The Hindu Business Line : Arvind Brands investing Rs 400 cr in Megamart stores

Chennai, Jan. 22 Arvind Brands, a division of Arvind Mills Ltd, plans to pump in Rs 400 crore to beef up its ‘value retail’ network – Megamart. Today, it opened its first large-format store — Megamart Outlet Centre.

Spread over 45,000 sq.ft., the ‘value store’ has been designed by the London-based design consultancy firm JHP. It offers a range of apparels and accessories including footwear, luggage, cosmetics and home furnishings at a discount. It stocks apparels from over 100 brands for men, women and children. Besides, it also has a Café Coffee Day outlet and other value-added services such as kids play area and utility payment counters.

According to Mr Sanjay S. Lalbhai, Chairman and Managing Director of Arvind Mills, who is in Chennai to inaugurate the store, the company will put up another store in the city – on OMR. “We expect our retail business to contribute 50 per cent of the company’s total turnover by 2012 (from 7 per cent now),” Mr Lalbhai said.

The company currently has 75 Megamart stores across the country, and plans another 200 stores by 2010. Most of them will be in the tier-II and tier-III towns. “We expect people in these areas to graduate to branded apparels,” said Mr J. Suresh, CEO – Brands and Retail, Arvind Brands. It also plans 30 large-format stores in 21 towns by then. “We have already identified the towns,” he said. Each large-format store will involve an outlay of Rs 8-12 crore.

At present, all the outlets are company-owned, and according to Mr Suresh, that is how it will be in the future too.

Arvind Brands has 14 brands in its portfolio including Arrow, GANT, US Polo, Lee, Wrangler, Nautica, Tommy Hilfiger, Ruf & Tuf, Flying Machine and Excalibur.