Udaipur: What makes a weekend at a mall memorable today? Increasingly, it is not just shopping. It is the experience around it.

At Urban Square Mall, Udaipur, the latest edition of its ‘Urban Weekender’ brought together food, family, entertainment and community engagement, creating a weekend experience designed to extend beyond the retail floor.

The weekend IP is part of the mall’s larger effort to create spaces where families can spend time together through interactive and community-led experiences.

Where food becomes a family affair

One of the highlights of the latest Urban Weekender was ‘Sweet & Savoury Festive Bites’, a family chef competition organised by Tarika Bhanupratap, Owner, She Circle India, along with Nirmala Soni and Karan Madhwani of Tastemakers India.

The culinary celebration saw participation from more than 100 contestants, who brought their creativity to the table through a variety of homemade dishes.

Beyond the competition itself, the format created an opportunity for families to come together around food—turning cooking and sharing into a collective weekend experience.

The event was attended by Manveer Kapoor, General Manager, Wyndham Garden, as Chief Guest, along with Vinit Chobisa, General Manager, Radisson, and Vikram Madhwani, Ashoka Group, who joined as special guests and brought perspectives from the hospitality and business community.

Rethinking the mall experience

For Urban Square Mall, the idea behind Urban Weekender extends beyond individual events.

“With Urban Weekender, our aim is to create experiences that bring people together and give families more reasons to spend their weekends with us,” said Nandini Taneja, CEO, Bhumika Enterprises.

She added that the response to the culinary event reflected growing interest in experiential engagements, with the mall looking to introduce more interactive formats in the future.

The approach reflects a broader shift in the retail landscape, where malls increasingly function as spaces for entertainment, dining, socialising and community participation alongside shopping.

From shopping destination to social destination

Urban Weekender’s programming extends beyond culinary events. The initiative includes family games, movie screenings, Tambola evenings and other community-led activities, creating a calendar of experiences designed for different audiences.

For Udaipur’s urban community, such formats add another dimension to the conventional mall visit—one where the destination is as much about spending time together as it is about making a purchase.

With Urban Weekender, Urban Square Mall continues to build its identity around this intersection of retail, leisure, food and community, positioning the mall as a destination where the weekend can be experienced rather than simply spent.