Mumbai gets it's first shopping festival set to take place across three weeks

Well-Heeled tourists are known to take off to Dubai to splurge on gold and luxury items that go on sale during their annual shopping festival that remains a big draw. Now, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) is aiming to pull off a similar event with the first edition of Mumbai Shopping Festival (MSF). Slated to take place across three weeks, the event will include food trucks, music performances and of course, shopping avenues.

Vian Fernandes and other musicians will perform at the event

The festival has tied up with retail associations that include FICCI, Federations of Retail Traders Welfare Association and Retailers Association of India. Other shopping partners include major malls such as High Street Phoenix (Lower Parel), Oberoi Mall (Goregaon), Grand Central (Seawoods) and Viviana Mall (Thane). T1 and T2 airport terminals will also have shopping zones. The reason behind these associations is to include every kind of shopper and retailer, be it a yuppy kid shopping at an international high street chain or a middle-class housewife on her monthly shopping trail at Crawford Market. Every shopper who drops by these partnering venues stands a chance to win prizes that range from a house, a car to electronics, with a minimum spend of Rs. 500. A downer though is that unlike Dubai, the Maharashtra government is not waving off any taxes.

Various food trucks will participate at the event

"MSF2018 will undoubtedly heighten tourism in Maharashtra. Our aim is to establish this event on a global platform as one of the most sought-after festivals of the world," Jaykumar Rawal, Minister of Tourism and (EGS), Government of Maharashtra, stated at the launch. The weekend of January 13 and 14 will see the first round of MSF Khao Galli in collaboration with Food Truck Association of India at the Worli seaface. The trucks will then set up shop in Malad on January 19 and 20, and Powai on January 26 and 27. One of the highlights will be the MSF Night Bazaar in Malad and Powai, where the market will remain open till 4 am, in an attempt to popularise the new notification of establishments being allowed to stay open 24/7.

Crawford Market

"We have received a great response from all retailer associations to execute this festival. Malls and brands have their individual sales, but this is an integrated shopping platform, a festival that aggregates everything. We have both organised and unorganised retailers, from craftsmen from all over Maharashtra to fruit or flower sellers, basically anyone who has a billing system can be a registered participant. A festival such as the Dubai Shopping festival has about eight to 10,000 participating retailers; Mumbai has that many in Crawford Market itself," says Rahul Gomes, MD, Oaks Management Consultancy, the organisers of the festival.

The festival has also partnered with dabbawalas, where information and coupons will accompany each tiffin. There will be hundreds of live, free-to-attend performances across the city, from Mira Road to Crawford Market. The only ticketed event is the Color Run, a Holi-style marathon which is an international property. The performing artistes include upcoming talented names such as jazz, pop and soul artiste Anusha Ramasubramoney, Praveer Barot, Vian Fernandes, Larissa Coelho among others.

From: January 12 to 31
Log on to : mumbaishoppingfestival.co.in

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, current affairs from Mumbai, local news, crime news and breaking headlines here

Download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go