Two-decade-old Karnaphuli Garden City Shopping Mall shuts down

Karnaphuli Garden City Shopping Complex, located at the Shantinagar–Kakrail intersection in the capital, has shut down amid a business slump, a shortage of customers and mounting unpaid bills. The owners’ association decided to close the mall from October 1, with no plans to reopen it. Instead, the owners have decided to sell the building.

A visit to the site on Monday (October 26) found the shutter down at the main entrance, with a closure notice hanging on the gate. It read: “The shopping complex will remain closed from October 1, 2026.”

According to people familiar with the complex, the 20-storey building was launched in 1998 under the Karnaphuli Group. The shopping mall occupied the ground to third floors, while the fourth floor housed a food court and a garden.

When the complex opened, it had 198 shops. By the time it closed, only 17 shops inside the mall remained open. Including restaurants operating outside, the total number of active outlets had fallen to 25.

Explaining the reasons behind the closure, Baki Billah Osmani Anand Shah, general secretary of the owners’ association, said the situation had not developed overnight. A decade of mismanagement, the country’s economic downturn and declining business activity had combined to undermine the shopping complex, he said.

The closure of the long-familiar shopping destination has also been an emotional blow for Shah. “My heart is bleeding,” he said. “My children used to come here to shop. They would tell people, ‘My father has a shop here, and he is the general secretary of the market owners’ association.’ I felt proud of that too. Now I am losing that opportunity myself.”

He said every owner was distressed by the decision. However, with daily losses mounting and little prospect of recovery, they had no alternative but to shut the mall.

The authorities said the closure applies only to the shopping complex. The residential section of the main building will remain operational.