| Kishore Biyani is likely to sell a part of his 49% stake in Planet Retail Holdings (PRHL) back to its Indonesian promoter. PRHL sells brands such as Marks & Spencer, Guess, Body Shop, Converse and Speedo in India . The group is also likely to introduce the world's largest coffee chain Starbucks to India in August http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
In a related story, ET describes retail companies like Pantaloon which are exploring ways to step up global sourcing of merchandise for shoring up margins and offering the best price to consumers.Pantaloon Retail India has just set up global sourcing offices in Hong Kong and Mainland China - the first overseas sourcing operation by any domestic retail chain.
"For retail chains across the globe, the world is becoming a single market. We are looking at markets across the world from where one can source merchandise at the lowest price. We have opened our global sourcing offices in Hong Kong and China a few days back," Future Group's chief executive officer Kishore Biyani told ET. Report on:
http://www.agencyfaqs.com/news/stories/2007/01/06/16792.html
Pantaloon Retail ( India ) Ltd plans to expand its network not only in bigger cities but also in small and medium towns. After establishing its presence through its large size central mall in Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara, the firm is looking at small and medium towns of Saurashtra and other regions in the state.
Pantaloon Retail's turnover is Rs 2,000 crore and has its stores spread across total area of 35 lakh sq ft. The retail company operates in lifestyle business through its 24 Pantaloon stores and four large size central malls, while in value retailing it operates through 41 Big Bazaar hyper markets, 59 Food Bazaar and six fashion stations. Read this story in:
http://www.financialexpress.com
The company launched 41st of its Big Bazaar, hypermarket store in Hyderabad , on Friday, the 5 th January 40th was opened in Chennai). Set up with an investment of Rs. 15 crore and housed in 52,000 sq. ft. of retail space, this is the second of the planned seven such stores in Hyderabad . Big Bazaar offers 160,000 items for sale.
Pantaloon has already announced its plans to open 100 Big Bazaars prior to Bharati-WalMart retail chain making its planned debut in India in mid-August, 2007. |
