Pantaloons to cross 100 stores mark this fiscal

Pantaloons, now a part of Aditya Birla Nuvo, after it picked up majority stake in it,

is on a retail expansion spree. The company recently launched its sixth flagship store in Bangalore. The company also plans to open new stores in Tier II cities. Retailing 25 exclusive brands under its fold, the company also has plans to focus on launching at least five more labels during the year.

Devoting the first year stake acquisition to clear old stocks, streamlining operations and renovating the stores, Pantaloon is now all set to cross a 100 stores mark this year. While 20 outlets were refurbished last year, rest would be done by the end of this financial year with an investment of Rs 1.5-2.5 crore per outlet. For new store openings, the company is looking at investing about Rs 3.5-5 crore per store, depending upon the store size. The new stores would also be of smaller size, in 20,000-25000 sq. ft. range unlike the traditional store size of 30-35,000 sq. ft.

Keeping women consumers in focus, plans are to increase its ladies range of handbags, purses by the end of this financial year. Shifting its focus to private fashion labels, which it believes can bring better margins it recently launched three new private brands exclusively for men, infants and plus size individuals. These brands include Byford, a British country inspired sport lifestyle brand for men; Moda targets plus sized individuals; and Chirpie Pie, created exclusively for infants in the age group 3-24 months.

Pantaloons already has an exclusive line up of in-house brands such as Rangmanch, Trishaa, Aakriti, Ajile, JM Sport, Lombard, RIG, Bare, Annabelle, Honey and Chalk apart from well-known labels like Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England from the Madura Fashion and Lifestyle stable, which are now available in Pantaloons stores.