Raymond exits home retail

Launched in 2008, Be: Home was a multi brand home retail chain from Raymond. It gave,

soft home furnishings and accessories sourced from across the globe. Recently, all four of its multi-speciality stores in Mumbai and New Delhi were shut down. After operating the multi-brand stores for two years, the textile and apparel major has decided to pull out the home retail format from the market.

Be: Home a part of the product portfolio of the distinguished Raymond Group and has been on a rollercoaster ride ever since it was launched in 2001. Discontinued in 2007, it was back in the market in a big way, with the intent of supplying designer soft furnishings and accessories at a lower price for larger volumes and was the pet project of the Raymond Chairman and Managing Director, Gautam Singhania.

Having targeted Rs 75 crores in the launch year, it is interesting to see the closure of the brand’s retail outlets. The company, at the time of launch, had plans to operate six stores by the end of 2008 besides setting up a countrywide distribution network for bed and bath categories. A company spokesman said, in line with their ongoing and continuous strategy of evaluating their brand portfolio to serve customers better, they withdrew the Be:Home brand from the market. This was a part of a brand rationalization and consolidation and added that a re-launch may not be entirely ruled out.

The company operates one of the largest speciality retail network in India in the textile and apparel space with 637 stores covering 1.35 million sq. ft. of space.The company also has 39 stores in Middle East and SAARC region. In fiscal 2010, it added 89 stores and its like-to-like store sales growth for company-owned stores stood at 5 per cent