GOES FOR R1.4 LAKH PER SQ FT A YEAR; AVERAGE RENT AT NEW YORK’S FIFTH AVENUE — `THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE TRADE LOCATION’ — IS R84,600 A c...
GOES FOR R1.4 LAKH PER SQ FT A YEAR; AVERAGE RENT AT NEW YORK’S FIFTH AVENUE — `THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE TRADE LOCATION’ — IS R84,600
A chemist shop at PGI Chandigarh has been auctioned for a rent of Rs 42 lakh a month. The mammoth figure is for a space smaller than a boxing ring the shop measures 12 feet by 30 feet. Taking service tax into account, it is Rs 5.04 crore a year.
Rent-wise, this makes the shop probably the most expensive in the world. The “record“ was earlier held by a shop near Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi, which was auctioned for a rent of Rs 85,200 a square feet a year.
According to a BBC report on September 21 this year, a shop at London’s New Bond Street, with a rent of Rs 38,230 per square feet a year, became the most expensive retail location in entire Europe. The June survey by Cushman & Wakefield, which the report quotes, put Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on top of the list, with an average rent of Rs 84,600/sq ft/year.
The same shop at PGI had last year gone to Bhagwati Medicos for Rs 2.76 crore a year.
This year, a pool of chemists already running a few shops in PGI clinched the deal. As per the contract, the chemists will have to give 15% discount on all branded medicines and 30% on all surgical items. Not only this, they will also have to submit three months’ rent in advance and an equal bank guarantee.
The reason for such a gigantic amount of money being paid is the mammoth sale. PGI emergency OPD gets 150 to 200 patients every day, and most of them are sadly in a critical condition and need expensive medicines. Another shop at PGI’s Nehru Hospital was rented out for Rs 22.76 lakh per month, one at New OPD was rented out for Rs 6.21 lakh per month.
“These shops generate huge revenue, which is used in public interest,“ said PGI’s spokesperson Manju Wadwalkar.
