Citadium was created as the first chain commercial and entertainment center in Iran. Being a chain is a concept that stems from integrated and strategic management thinking regarding creating a uniform mental image of the level of quality among the audience and integrated operational management.

The main focus of developing each branch of Citadium is based on the needs of the family and inspired by the local culture of that region. In the interview that follows, we have exchanged views with Bashir Anisi, CEO of The One Iranian Company and creator of the Citadium brand, regarding the Citadium Rasht project.

Interview with Bashir Anisi, CEO of The One Iranian Company

First, introduce yourself and tell us about your education and background.

I am Bashir Anisi. Above all, I consider myself an entrepreneurship teacher, and this is my most valuable profession and legacy. I have been a factory manager in the family business since I was 16 years old, working in various industrial sectors following my father, and through this I studied materials engineering. Later, I chose the real estate industry to continue my professional path due to its great appeal as a strategic management.

I registered the first real estate service company under the name of Dovan Iranian and won national entrepreneurship awards. From those days, together with other national entrepreneurs, we founded the National Entrepreneurs Association as the main entrepreneurship think tank in the country in this field. Today, I am the president of the Tehran Province Entrepreneurs Association. I studied economics at Allameh Tababaei University.
I introduced new concepts and services in the field of real estate into the country’s literature, the most important of which today is “development management.”

Explain the specifications, facilities, and unique features of the Rasht Citadium project as a large commercial and entertainment project.

Citadium is the largest commercial and entertainment center in northern Iran, which is being built on a land area of ​​about 5.1 hectares, with an area of ​​110 thousand square meters on four floors. Citadium’s construction and positioning strategies are based on creating a “destination”. A destination that has defined a “program” for both family members to attend together and for each member of the family in a specialized and separate manner, and is attractive.
Citadium has defined its position in Gilan Province in such a way that it covers all aspects of social life in the fields of art, sports, culture, and entertainment.

To put it a little simpler; we defined Citadium as a place for events and social happenings that also includes commercial stores! Citadium is not just a shopping mall, brands and diverse department layouts and good quality of operation are not our distinguishing points, our distinguishing points are concepts and applications that are like oxygen for survival and flow like blood in the life veins of the complex.
On each floor of this four-story project, innovation, creativity, and foresight have created concepts that keep Citadium alive.

When will the first and second phases of Rasht Citadium be opened, and how many commercial, administrative, and service units will be operating there? (Also mention the names of the brands, infrastructure, etc.)

Our best efforts are to open the first phase by the end of 1402 and the second phase by mid-1403. About 330 commercial units have been defined in Citadium, but depending on the strategies for arranging the departments, some of these units may be combined with each other. Citadium has the largest and most specialized cultural complex in northern Iran. This cultural complex includes cinemas, theaters, concerts, art galleries, and a music academy.

Specialized sports and wellness areas, spas and beauty salons are attractive areas for families. F&B areas are located on all floors of the Citadium in a way that each floor follows the conceptual identity and branding of that floor. The Ethnic Hall space, as the main F&B space of the Citadium, is located on the second floor. The arrangement of specialized areas in a way that meets all the needs of each member of the family is another unique feature of the Citadium.
Among these stores, Hyperstar will also experience its first presence in northern Iran with Citadium.

In your opinion, what will differentiate Rasht Citadium from other shopping centers after its opening? What is your goal to achieve the top ranking?

By answering this question, I can explain the concept of “development management” to you well. The creation of the Citadium brand has a story that is distinct from other commercial projects. Without knowing which city, which land, or even which investor; the Citadium brand was formed from a business plan and the creation of a concept. Then, all subsequent steps were taken in accordance with the identity that was intended for a complex.
The experience of building many shopping centers shows that in many cases, other processes are involved in the design and then the operation.

I attribute the second distinguishing feature of Citadium to the dynamic design model of this complex. The definition of intelligent construction steps allowed us to define the various functions of the complex professionally and in the presence of the users, simultaneously with the implementation of the construction stages of the project. This project has the ability to keep its life up to date in accordance with the modern concepts of the day.
The infrastructure of this project has been defined in a way that not only does not make the project vulnerable to future changes, but also embraces them! The design is not the limiting point of the Citadium project and does not overshadow the ability to adapt to the market.

As we are doing this Q&A, with the first phase of the facility completed and the storefronts in operation, the engineering process has been defined in a way that has allowed us to change the entire design and functionality of the Citadium sports space by increasing the area by 60 percent and transforming it into a professional sports complex. The performance of the complex’s spa has gone from good to world-class.
The beauty salon space of the complex was moved to the second floor with a 60% increase in space. All of these issues stem from the development perspective of our team. We have neither an investment nor a consulting perspective on Citadium, but all of these are subsumed under the development perspective.

The third difference is that we did not enter the topic of property development from investment and adopted a professional process in line with international standards. That is, we entered the topic of property development from understanding business and understanding service management. Understanding the difference between these two paths can be very important for the success of future shopping centers.

What impact has the event marketing strategy had in terms of exploitation, in terms of brand recognition and recognition of the people of the province?

Shopping malls use many methods to communicate with their audiences. It can be said that these methods and strategies are often related to the time when the complexes have started their activities and intend to attract or retain the audience. Citadium is the largest commercial and entertainment center in northern Iran.
It seemed that not only because of the uniqueness of its concepts, but also because of the impressive scope of the project, it could function like other commercial projects and leave the communication with the audience until after the opening. The truth is that pre-opening event marketing has a deeper story than it seems!

Defining innovative concepts in relation to different groups of society was one of our main concerns as the developer of the Citadium brand. In our opinion, Citadium is not a purely commercial project and all our development strategies are based on the definition of a “destination brand”. In our opinion, defining specific functions in the form of recreational, cultural and sports spaces required an in-depth and expert qualitative study at the provincial level.
Without audience and behavioral studies, the proposals on the table were unsupported ideas. This is where event marketing planning became a no-brainer!

Event marketing is a one-on-one conversation, a full-fledged qualitative observation, a deep emotional connection. The course of events held at Citadium clearly shows that with each program, a specific group of future project audiences are invited to Citadium! Citadium is not a big mystery to them;
It is a place they are looking forward to opening and they know it well. They have talked about it and have seen the team members up close. After each program, innovative ideas for operation and development have been sent to the Citadium development team.

Another important point I have to say about Citadium’s event marketing strategies is this: No major construction project, especially in the commercial sector, has been able to get this amount of feedback with this minimal advertising and branding budget. In other words, we have kept the marketing budget to a minimum and the marketing effectiveness and brand influence to a maximum.
The results of this activity are clearly visible among investors, brand owners and the people of the province. Through event marketing, we spread narratives among the target community that were precisely the foundations of our brand definition. We created adjectives for the project that would normally require huge budgets to be uttered. Perhaps it will be nice to hear these narratives and stories at the appropriate time.

What arrangements have you made in the field of human resources training and personnel recruitment?

Commercialization and operation of shopping malls is still a new topic in the world. It seems that due to this issue, there is still no deep knowledge stored in the country in this industry. Dovan Iranian Company, as a construction industry development company, has incorporated all the knowledge from the international arena into its work since the first day of its activity.
Our view of human resources training is therefore different and we are not looking for a specialist in this field who knows everything from zero to one hundred. Rather, we are looking for colleagues who have an acceptable level of knowledge and experience in various areas related to a shopping center and who can then update their mental model and skills according to the organization’s frameworks.

The human resources challenge has always been present in the country, but to date, in all of our company’s projects, the best outcome has been achieved through cooperation based on specialized training.

In your opinion, what obstacles are currently facing the growth and development of shopping centers in Iran?

Several factors have made the construction of shopping malls challenging and difficult. On the one hand, the costs related to land, permits, and construction; the sensitivity of investment in the commercial sector with regard to the rate of return on investment are among the main challenges. On the other hand, the risks related to branding and establishing a brand in the market and creating a foothold and welcoming audience have turned commercialization into a professional task and will soon be removed from the agenda of construction contractor

In my opinion, commercialization will be the first part of our country’s construction industry that is defined based on “development management” and outside of this path, few people will accept its risks. In other words, investors will go towards successful shopping center brands and entrust the development process to them.

Tell us about the concept of Ethnic Hall.

A space created with the atmosphere of local culture is the literal meaning of Ethnic Hall! Ethnic Hall aims to present all the food products of Gilan province in the form of a “fresh market” with the same atmosphere of local markets but in a modern and innovative environment. Ethnic Hall is the connection point of Rasht Citadium with the culture of Gilan province.

Rasht was registered by UNESCO as a Creative City of Gastronomy in 2015 due to its high diversity of flavors. Gilani cuisine is renowned for its diversity and flavor and has a national status. The atmosphere of local markets, such as the Rasht Municipality Market, is considered part of the historical and cultural treasure of this province, and all of these issues, through the Ethnic Hall, became the main point of semantic connection of the project to its construction platform.

“Cooking and combining flavors to create a work of art” is the main and most important element of Ethnic Hall’s identity. In Ethnic Hall, specialty stores offer fresh and organic products. But the high quality and variety of Gilani products is not their only element. Each specialty section offers dishes based on its products.

This means that audiences can taste Gilani flavors in the form of “small food presses” (small food presses mean that you can taste enough Gilani rice and stew to enjoy its taste!). If they are interested in a particular flavor of food, they can obtain all the ingredients for it from there and even learn how to cook their favorite dishes.
When we talk about all the “Gilani cuisine,” we mean more than 2,700 flavors and dishes registered with UNESCO! ​​In the Ethnic Hall, a communal cooking space has been designed to showcase the art of cooking, and the first cooking demonstrations or “shows” centered on Gilani food have been planned in this space, which also functions as a cooking academy.

If we want to describe the concept of the shared cooking space at Ethnic Hall in a little more detail, it is an idea derived from the Cloud Kitchen concept, which has been created in many countries around the world today as an entrepreneurial idea for the culinary industry. Our claim is that we have even gone a step further and combined the cloud kitchen with the visual pleasure of watching the audience cook.

By providing all these flavors under one roof and with a different and exciting atmosphere for travelers and residents of the province, we will create a space that will be considered one of the most important tourist attractions in Gilan Province.

At Ethnic Hall, we bring together flavors from the refined kitchen corners of the beautiful cities of Gilan. And soon we will host all your five senses in a full-fledged show. Ethnic Hall is the beating heart of Rasht Citadium, always alive, always diverse, always has something new to offer and will always be your favorite destination.

In your opinion, what are the educational, study, or operational prerequisites for an individual to work in this industry and ultimately assume the responsibility of managing a shopping center? And what types of training and skills do shopping center managers need to increase their knowledge and productivity while working?

It is no secret that a shopping center manager must be knowledgeable about and master some of the aspects of operation: including marketing management, leasing management, financial management, event management, maintenance management, cleaning, legal issues, macro-management issues, and team building capabilities.
But the point I would like to emphasize is that shopping center managers must believe that today in Iran, there is a great need for a manager who is specialized in serving the public. All other training can be acquired, but it is personality traits and individual skills that must cover this very sensitive area.

Unfortunately, because they are faced with a very high variety of work, shopping mall managers are usually forced to have characteristics that are reprimanding, addressing, negative, and deterrent. While I believe that the central characteristic of a shopping mall manager is having a spirit of hospitality and service, and I consider it to be the missing link in this industry.
A shopping center manager is someone whose body, soul, skills, and knowledge are built to serve their audiences. These audiences include investors, tenants, and users of shopping centers.

If there is anything else worth mentioning, please let me know.

The issue I would like to point out, which can definitely be discussed at length, is that shopping malls still do not have a plan for Iranian daily life and wandering. The operators and investors of shopping malls still consider the issue to be very much a technical, engineering, investment, and management issue. While the issue of shopping malls is a “social” issue. Today’s shopping malls are the social places of the city.
Today, the main actor in the various segments of society is Generation Z. A generation that shopping malls not only seem to have no plans for their wanderings, but also no preference for hosting them. I wanted to briefly remind all the industry players that the presence of Generation Z in shopping malls is inevitable and they will soon become the biggest asset in the vitality of shopping malls.