Marks & Spencer opens a new store in Hyderabad

Moving ahead with its planned retail expansion in India, British retailer Marks & Spencer have launched a new flagship store close to the

IT hub of Hyderabad. With this the total store count has reached 42 in India. The company plans to grow this number to 80 by 2016 with two new stores in Hyderabad’s GVK Mall and Prestige Mall respectively, by December 2014.

M&S operates through 51:49 joint venture with Reliance Retail, in the country. It has 42 stores across the country. Before joining hands with Reliance Retail five years ago, M&S operated through a local franchise partner Planet Retail between 2001 and 2008.

With an aim to be the most sustainable retailers across the world, the company wants to take its learnings from India to replicate it in other global markets. In India, the focus would be on turning all its outlets in the country on the lines of its Delhi store which is already a holder of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold standard and the Bangalore store that has a silver standard developed by US Green Building Council.