The Hindu Business Line : Spencer's plans expansion

THE RPG Enterprises-owned Spencer's chain of hypermarkets is on an expansion spree. The firm is focusing on enhancing its presence in the northern region over the next few months.

"We are planning to open six new outlets in the northern region in six months' time," Mr K. Radhakrishnan, Vice-President, Merchandising, RPG Enterprises, said. Mr Radhakrishnan was speaking on the sidelines of the Food World Summit organised by the FICCI.

He added that the chain is planning to expand to the West and the East (Kolkata, in particular) of the country as well.

"We have already contracted the land for the outlets," he added.

Its six outlets in the northern region would be covering a total area of 2,00,000 sq ft.

The new outlets would be on the same model of retailing that is in place in the South. RPG had recently said that it expected the annual revenue (from retail) to grow from Rs 321 crore to Rs 2,200 crore by 2007-08.

The hypermarket, which has already established a strong presence in the South, stocks more than 25,000 products that include groceries, fruits, and vegetables.

The company also indicated that it had lined up a Rs 200-crore investment in the next 18 months to consolidate its retail business.

While elaborating on the company's expansion plans, Mr Radhakrishnan said that there aren't enough domestic branded players in the retail segment and that there is a tremendous scope for more such enterprises.

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