Big Bazaar chain to get bigger in eastern region

22 Mar 2010, 0859 hrs IST, Writankar Mukherjee, ET Bureau

KOLKATA: Kishore Biyani’s Future Group has decided to invest more than Rs 125 crore over the next six months to expand the Big Bazaar chain of hypermarts in the East. The group intends to nearly double the number of Big Bazaar outlets from 22, at present, to 40 by October in the region. 

The latest thrust on expansion comes at a time when the group is betting on community retailing as the new business model for Big Bazaar. It has also created a sub-brand ‘Big Bazaar Family Centre’ that is completely focused on community retailing and is spread over 60,000-70 ,000 sq ft as compared to a Big Bazaar store spread over 35,000-40 ,000 sq ft. 

In fact, the Future group also plans to reorient all the existing Big Bazaar stores in the region as per this new business model. It has plans to convert two existing Big Bazaar stores in Ranchi and Guwahati into Big Bazaar Family Centres. 

“At present, Big Bazaar is spread over 10 lakh sq ft in the East. We will add another 6 lakh sq ft as part of the expansion process. While earlier the focus was to drive returns on a per sq ft, the model of this format has now changed completely. We now want to include products which may not lead to volume sales but will cater to the entire shopping basket of a family,” said Future Value Retail chief operations (East) Manish Agarwal. 

Future Value Retail, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Future Group flagship Pantaloon Retail India Ltd, is a newlyformed company that owns the value formats—Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar. 

As part of the expansion plan, Future Group will also enter into several newer markets in the East like Patna, Asansol, Agartala, Silchar, Deoghar, Bilaspur, Raniganj, Liluah and Gangtok. While the group already operates seven Big Bazaar stores in Kolkata, it plans to add another seven by October. 

“We’ve already acquired real estate for the new stores and they are under various stages of development. Once the proposed Big Bazaar expansion is complete, we will look at new opportunities for standalone Food Bazaar stores in the East,” said Mr Agarwal. Source: ET

SPAR launches South India's biggest Hypermarket in Malleshwaram

Bengaluru, Karnataka, March 13, 2010 /TREN/ -- SPAR, the world's largest independent food retail chain spread across 35 countries, unveiled its flagship hypermarket in India under the license agreement between Max Hypermarkets India Pvt. Ltd. & SPAR International. SPAR at Malleshwaram is the country's biggest food store, spread over an area of 90, 000 sq ft. on a single floor plate. This SPAR flagship store is located at Mantri Square Mall, Sampige Road, Malleshwaram, one of the oldest residential localities in Bangalore. The mall has the capacity for parking of over 2000 cars in the basement.

SPAR brings a truly international shopping experience at Indian prices to customers. The aesthetics of this hypermarket are truly phenomenal. The systematically arranged sections at SPAR promise the customer an easy and hassle-free shopping experience. Be it the bakery, grocery, fruits & vegetables, dairy products, easy-to-cook products, meat, poultry & fish, wines, beer and spirits, home textiles, personal care, kitchenware, crockery, electronic products and IT and accessories or children's products, SPAR provides the widest range of quality and value-for-money products in the country.

The SPAR Hypermarket at Malleshwaram, Bangalore, guarantees to take the customer's shopping experience to an entirely new level. This is the 3rd SPAR store in Bangalore, after Koramangala and Bannerghatta Road, but is proudly the chain's "flagship" store.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Viney Singh, Managing Director, Max Hypermarket India Pvt. Ltd, said "Through the introduction of such large format stores, we hope to take the shopping experience in India to a whole new level. At SPAR, customer satisfaction takes precedence over every other aspect. We would like to provide our customers with the best of services, coupled with value for their money, and make their weekly shopping an experience to look forward to."

SPAR India benefits greatly due to its affiliation with both SPAR International and the Landmark Group. SPAR International provides expertise in the field of food retailing with best practices in designing and merchandising. The Landmark Group, whose stores are destinations for non-food retail, provides for superior sourcing and range of products.

Freshness, Choice, Value and Service are the Brand Pillars of SPAR and form the core of SPAR's retail philosophy.

Reliance Footprint plans major expansion

Mumbai, Maharashtra, March 12, 2010 /TREN/ -- Reliance Footprint - the footwear arm of Reliance Retail Group, is eying major expansion. Gopalakrishnan Sankar, chief executive, Reliance Footprint says, "The places where we are set to open our stores include Jabalpur, Amritsar, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Belgaum, Vijayawada, Mysore, Coimbatore, Gurgaon, Raipur, Mumbai, Bhubaneshwar."

Reliance Footprint recently launched its 4,500 square feet store in Bangalore at Mantri Square mall. "We can't specify the exact amount but generally speaking the costs can vary anywhere between Rs.1,500 per sq.ft to Rs.2,000 per sq.ft on carpet area," informs Sankar. "We are targeting to achieve a 15 per cent market share in the organised footwear market in the next five years."

The rapid expansion of Reliance Footprint in India is a testimony to the fact that Reliance Footprint's products and services have been appreciated by its customers. An inaugural offer of upto 60 per cent discount is being offered to the customers on their purchases at Reliance Footprint during the launch period.

Reliance Footprint offers a wide variety of footwear and other consumer commodities including handbags and accessories together with a line-up of international brands from America and Europe. Reliance Footprint offers a troupe of various categories like casuals, formals, casual sports, comfort wear, kids wear and home wear. Reliance Footprint also engages in selling private labels and is also coming up with specially crafted footwear for people with foot deformities. Reliance Footprint is aiming at a share of about 10-12 percent in the entire footwear industry in a time span of a few years.

Notes to Editor

The Reliance Group, founded by Dhirubhai H. Ambani (1932-2002), is India's largest private sector enterprise, with businesses in the energy and materials value chain. Group's annual revenues are in excess of US$ 28 billion. The flagship company, Reliance Industries Limited, is a Fortune Global 500 company and is the largest private sector company in India.