Worldly goods

A host of new, eclectic lifestyle stores have entered the market to cater to discerning buyers

A Phillipe Starck "Ara" lamp or an Atlantis crystal or for that matter a lacquer bowl from Myanmar "" the small signs of being part of the swish set were always there.

There were ethnic artefacts strewn across living rooms that denoted the occupants as having travelled extensively, picking up things from countries as diverse as Estonia and Peru.

But for those with moolah to spare but lacking the discerning eye, there is help. Over the last few months there has been a spurt in lifestyle stores in the major metros "" stocking everything from home furnishings and tribal panels to bathroom fixtures and lights.

Delhi alone has seen the opening of Viya, Evoluzione, Atmosphere and Hurtado, among others. Evoluzione plans to open its third store in Mumbai in a few months time.

Besides Delhi and Mumbai, Hurtado is set to open another store in Bangalore; Atmosphere has set its sights on Chennai for expansion. And like the food business, there seems to be a whole gamut of people getting into the lifestyle stores "" from silk fabric manufacturers to designers to film stars to investment bankers.

"By lifestyle store, I mean, a place where I can find things that represent a certain feeling of style," says Rajiv Patel of Mumbai-based Environments.

For Vikram Goyal, co-promoter of Viya, Delhi, it is a store that stocks a certain kind of style. And more than anything else, it is the sheer "experience" of possessing a Ligne Roset line.

Two reasons that have led to the spurt in lifestyle stores are a liberalised import policy (duties have been reduced and are expected to fall further) and the increase in the number of Indians going abroad leading to more awareness of brands and quality. This has led to a change in mindset.

"Entertaining at home and gifting have gone up significantly in the last few years," says Arvind K Singhal, chairman of retail consultant KSA Technopak. "You're 'exposing' your home to outsiders and, thus, the need to beautify it."

Nearly all lifestyle stores target a very niche consumer group "" "upmarket and worldly," according to Vikram Phadke, co-promoter of Evoluzione; "high-profile individuals who prefer the finer things in life," says Aruna Tara, CEO, Hurtado.

The average footfall in these stores range around 20-25 with nearly 50 per cent picking up something or the other. Twenty per cent of customers become regulars.

Price points, steep by any standards, vary. At Viya, one can get candles for Rs 80 and tribal panels from Nagaland for Rs 40,000; furniture, especially imported, can go up to Rs 2 lakh; at Atmosphere, fabrics are in the range of Rs 800 to Rs 2,500 a metre. Average annual sales in lifestyle stores range from Rs 2 crore to Rs 3 crore.

But is the lifestyle business just another bubble waiting to burst? Most players don't think so. "Not in the near future," says Phadke. "We've a long way to go and the big players are still to enter the scene."

KSA's Singhal is of the same view. According to him, there are eight lakh Indian households with an annual discretionary spending of Rs 1 lakh each.

"That puts the potential spending roughly around Rs 8,000 crore a year. And one must remember that the chief wage earners are in the late 20s to the early 30s age group. There is a slice of the population for whom spending is desire-based. You need retailers to serve this growing segment."

What it translates into is that there will be a demand for Benlloch's ceramic lamps and Vista Alegre porcelain, Flos lamps and Kartell furniture.