Lifestyle opens store in Chennai

Lifestyle, part of the Dubai-based Landmark group, has stocked merchandise worth Rs 9 crore in its new retail store being inaugurated at the Chennai Citicentre shopping mall.

Addressing mediapersons, G Sankar, managing director, Lifestyle International, said its own labels accounted for 25 per cent of the inventory and the remaining 75 per cent would come from branded players. The average footfall was 3,000 to 8,000 people a day, depending on the location of the store. However, he declined to give details of the average sales at Lifestyle stores per day.

Sankar claimed that the new store, with built-up space of 75,000 sq ft, is the largest departmental store in India. Around $2 million (about Rs 8.9 crore) was invested in building the new store, he added.

Sankar said the company would add another 15 to 17 stores, taking its retail presence to 25 stores in two years' time. In terms of investments, Landmark group would invest another Rs 150 crore to Rs 170 crore. Lifestyle has three stores in Mumbai, two in Delhi, one each in Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore. It has a store in Gurgaon under the home centre concept.

The existing Lifestyle store at Alwarpet in Chennai would be converted into home solutions store, which would cater to the segments such as home textile, furniture, fixtures, among others.

The company declined to provide information on how it plans to fund its expansion pointing the fact that its a privately held company. The total turnover of the company was Rs 350 crore for the last year.