Small store big plans from Raymond

Raymond Apparel, the 100 per cent subsidiary of Raymond Limited is now launching a new small format store called ‘Shirts & More’. These small sized stores of around 300 to 600 sq ft will house all their in-house brands such as Manzoni, Park Avenue, ColorPlus, Parx and accessories

like belts, wallets and the like. Raymond entered the ready-to-wear business with Park Avenue in 1986. Last year, they had introduced the first of its kind, a one stop shop for accessories called ‘Neckties & More’. Ranked amongst the largest and most respected apparel companies in India, Raymond caters to the men’s formal wear market. It has several well known brands under it for example, Parx, which offers smart casuals and Manzoni, a lifestyle brand that offers super-premium formal range of men's shirts, suits, trousers, jackets, ties and leather accessories. ColorPlus is their high end, casual wear brand.

“The new Shirts & More concept will help us reach smaller players”, says Shreyas Joshi, President, Raymond Apparel. He feels in big cities there are small locations where one cannot open a 2,000 sq ft store, while opening a 300-400 sq ft store is a more viable preposition. “We are going where the consumers are going. We will be looking at opening such stores in airports and malls and places where we are not being able to open our exclusive stores or even a Raymond Shop,” Joshi explains. Recently, Raymond opened two Shirts & More stores in Hyderabad. “We will spread this concept rapidly,” Joshi adds.

Raymond is looking at opening between 40 to 50 Shirts & More stores in the year 2010-11. “First we will go to the metros, and then if the opportunity comes up, we will go to Tier I cities,” Joshi says. After Hyderabad the next stops are Bangalore and Mumbai. “Initially, we will be setting up company owned Shirts & More stores like the ones we have just opened in Hyderabad. We will monitor how these are functioning, later we will demonstrate this to our franchises who are very eager to adopt this model,” Joshi says. As for investment, it depends on the size of the store. At the moment, they invest around Rs 2,000-2,200 per sq ft.