After eight years in business Zara closed its influential SoBo store based in South Mumbai’s Fort district. The store sign that announced the closure spread throughout social media platforms. Zara paid ₹3 crore every month to maintain its clothing shop location.
Zara leased the property for 21 years starting from 2016 by agreeing to pay ₹2.25 crore each month. In the first five months Zara received free rental payments from the space owner. After the first three years of the 21-year period the lease agreement established annual rent increases of 5%. The current monthly rent amounts to ₹3,01,52,152 while the annual rent reaches ₹36,18,25,823.
A private source informed Business Standard that the store failed to sustain its sales volume due to costly rental payments.
Viral notice on social media:
The Zara store operating here will stop all activities when February 23 ends. You will find ongoing assistance at every Zara store throughout Mumbai according to a notice displayed outside the South Mumbai Zara outlet.
What did social media say?
The luxury brand closure together with its high property rent cost shocked people on social media. The social media user expressed “You must be kidding me.” Many quick-commerce dark stores will follow this exact fate in the near future. The rental prices in Mumbai make no sense even though the shops remain in a corner area.
“My understanding is that these locations serve the purpose of brand placement rather than earning profits for individual stores” according to a third source. The Mumbai real estate sector deserves no blame according to the fourth comment received.
The companies that agree to pay these unreasonable amounts should receive the blame. One reader noted of the location that it symbolized an essential part of the city. Totally worth it. Whenever I went, it was full. The rental rate did not require any problem in that particular area.
New tenant Purple Style Labs to pay rent of ₹10 lakh a day
Zara made the decision to close down its individual retail location operating in the 118-year-old historic Ismail building of Flora Fountain that stands in South Mumbai. In a significant move Luxury fashion brand Purple Style Labs obtained 60,000 sq ft of retail space in a famous building at an annual cost of ₹36 crore through a five-year commitment that is clear from ownership records maintained by Propstack.com.
The building space is now leased by a new tenant for five years as documented in property registration documents. The total rent payment covers five years at ₹206 crore which includes a daily payment of ₹10 lakhs according to property registration documents.
The company Purple Style Labs operates through Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop brand which sells high-end designer brands after its establishment in 2015 by founder Abhishek Agarwal.
The firm obtained Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop during 2018. The company supports up-and-coming designer brands that require commercial assistance including sales and marketing and technical services. The company operates its website through products from eminent designers like Tarun Tahiliani and Falguni Shane Peacock along with Amit Aggarwal and Gaurav Gupta and Seema Gujral and Abhinav Mishra and Shyamal & Bhumika.
In 2020 the company bought the brand of fashion designer Wendell Rodricks just after the Goa-based designer died at 59 years old.
The official website of Purple Style Labs indicates it maintains multiple retail stores across Mumbai’s areas including Juhu and Bandra and Kemps Corner.
The luxury fashion brand Purple Style Labs secured a 59,350 sq ft retail space lease in the Ismail Building that will last five years. The monthly rent payment for the store stands at ₹3 crore while the annual rent covers ₹36 crore during the first year period of agreement.
Purple Style Labs will pay rising rent increments totalling ₹39 crore for the second year followed by ₹42 crore for the third year and rising to ₹43.8 crore for the fourth year while the fifth year’s rate reaches ₹45.6 crore according to the documents.
The deposit for the transaction is ₹18 crore, as shown in the documents.
The transaction was registered on December 23, 2025, for which a stamp duty of over ₹53 lakh and registration fees of ₹1,000 were paid.
Why did Zara depart from the South Mumbai market?
Experts in the retail sector indicate successful stores exist beyond their position since both economic sustainability along with customer volume matter most in retail success.
A retail head from an international property consultancy advised that nine years provides enough time to evaluate the financial stability of South Mumbai stores while determining centering the business at Palladium Mall.
Shifts in the Zara-targeted South Mumbai customers have led them to shop at Palladium Mall in Worli and Lower Parel along with the central Mumbai region. According to the expert South Mumbai has lost its exclusive status and Palladium Mall attracts more shoppers because of its traffic优势.
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