Jojo’s World

We (me & John) were on the way to CUSAT for attending National Conference on Free software but made a quick turn to NH-47, on way we decided to visit the newly opened Oberon mall. Its in NH-47 hardly 200 meters on the Idappally-Vytilla route (Left side). Parked our pulsar on the huge underground area (parking is free now-may be bcz of opening). We walked up to the entrance & an automated door gave us a warm welcome. First step into the oberon fired flashes of a Bangalore trip we (same …me & John) had made while we were final year engineering students. Most of that 1 week trip we used to spent in malls, mux & pubs hanging out! First look @ oberon resembles the Forum mall in build,style& no.of floors. This mall is still under construction so its full beauty is yet to be enjoyed.

We saw small outlets of Baskin Robins & Yamaha @ ground floor. A lot of space @ gf is yet to be occupied & the “bRandZ” designer jewellery showroom is worth a look – where you can find a decent collection of varieties. Major portion of the 1st & 2nd floor is occupied by Reliance Group! Reliance is like a VIRUS which spreads into all sectors of business. Of all the 3 Reliance shops (Footprint, TimeOut & Trendz) I liked Trendz & TimeOut a lot. Footprint store of Reliance which sells footwears is not upto mark! Reliance Trendz is an amazing place for gents to shop dresses especially jeans & shirts (Tees also!) A damn good collection @ mix of prices ranging from medium to high can be found. You can get a decent blue jeans for Rs.500 & if you wanna high end..no worries..you can find that of Rs.2000. T-shirts starting from Rs.250 & casual shirts in medium range can be found. For girls if you are modern type who is searching for jeans & shirts you will be satisfied but if you are a type who wanna laches,churidars & other stuffs…you wont be that happy! Saree collection is not up to mark! (Actually I dunno ur styles & stuffs but a first look tells me like this).

Reliance TimeOut is just a copy of The Landmark store in Forum mall Bangalore. You can find a lot of CD’s, DVD’s, Collectors version like Rafis, Rays, SPB’s, Speilbergs, ….a lot! The collection that will catch you in TimeOut is Books! Now its the best collection available in Kerala…but its very very poor compared to Landmark. This store in oberon doesn’t have even 10% of the Landmark collection of Bangalore but I will say they managed to grab all categories ranging from comic,drama,fiction,sex,management to cooking! Apart from these two sections many other MASALA items can be found in TimeOut like coffe shop with a damn attracting smell of coffe all around (still we didn’t fall!!!) , flowers, stationeries etc….Reliance seems to collect every coin of the Indian consumer!

70% of the 1st floor & 2nd floor is occupied by Reliance & a chat with the Reliance salesman (a friend of mine) got me the idea that daily sales in Reliance Trendz alone is 15 Lakhs!!

Top two floors are still under construction & this mall lacks a MUX like PVR (in Forum) or an INOX (in Garuda Bangalore). To end this mall forms the base of a smart or even smarter Cochin!

I am looking forward to visit the LULU Mall (under construction in Idapally) which claims to be the Biggest Mall in India with a Marriot Hotel in one floor & 7 MUX-es!! They titled it as “WORLD OF HAPPINESS” – lets see will they make it ?

I didn’t took any photos & I accept my mistake! But I wont dissatisfy you as I can share some photos took by Mani Karthik ( a pro-blogger from Cochin).