John Hill plans more stores

John Hill the men’s wear brand from Vir Retail, which started its journey almost a year

ago, is aggressively trying to make its presence felt across India by opening outlets at regular intervals. Currently, the brand manages 102 stores across India; all on a franchisee model in states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP, Punjab, New Delhi and the NCR. The brand now plans to multiply the store count to 130 in the same territories. They plan to open new stores in Rajasthan and take the count up to eight by September. Currently, in Punjab they have four stores and aim to open 11 more. In the south they are already present in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and want to venture into Kerala.

After Diwali, the brand will continue with its expansion plans and by March 2011 they are aiming to open 170 showrooms. By next year September they want to start with undergarments, vests and socks under ‘John Hill Inners’. They also have a tie-up with a perfume brand and a deo brand, which they plan to launch in September 2011.

John Hill is both, a formal as well as a casual brand. Its casual range accounts for 60 per cent of sales. The range includes, casual and formal shirts, trousers, cargos, T-shirts, blazers, jackets and jumpers. The brand competes with Spykar and Mufti in the casual range and Peter England in the formal range and Blackberrys in formal trousers. Vir Retail is a vertically integrated company since it produces fabrics as well as manufactures apparels in its in-house facilities. Vir Retail also has a women’s wear brand called ‘Miss Hill’, a western wear range it’s retailed within the John Hill stores and is also into children’s wear.