Heritage Foods plans 30 retail stores in B'lore

Heritage Foods, the Hyderabad-based dairy products firm, which recently forayed into retailing daily home needs, plans to set up at least 30 retail stories under the brand - Fresh@ - by the end of 2007 in Bangalore. It is part of the firm's Rs 150-crore plan to invest in retail operations in South India.

On Thursday, the firm announced the opening of retail stores in Indiranagar, Jayanagar and Basaveshwaranagar localities of the city.

"Each store has a carpet area of 2,500 square feet to 3,000 square feet. Nearly 40 per cent of the space is dedicated to fresh fruits and vegetables with the rest going towards daily home needs. We will launch 3-4 such similar stores every month in Bangalore. We have identified 35 residential clusters in the city for locating these stores," Heritage Retail vice-president S Jagdish told Business Standard.

Heritage Retail, which already operates 12 stores in Hyderabad, is also launching Fresh@ stores in Chennai.

"We intend to have 100 stores equally distributed in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai by the end of 2007. Subsequently, we will consider expanding to tier two cities," he added.

The firm has launched free home delivery service through its Heritage milk agents. "A dedicated call centre and an e-portal will be launched to bring the convenience of shopping to the customers' doorstep," he stated.

Heritage Retail procures vegetables and fruits from farmers in Chittoor district (Andhra Pradesh), Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

"At present, 500 acres are exclusively dedicated by farmers in these three states to support our retail operations. By year end, we expect this to reach 5,000 acres," Jagdish said.