Raymond set to expand retail presence

Raymond is planning to set up 40 brand stores "" The Raymond Stores (TRS) "" by the end of the year, with almost 60 per cent of these coming up in malls.

"With the growth of organised retail in the country, setting up stores in malls is the logical option," said Shreyas Joshi, president - group apparel, Raymond.

At present, there are about 320 TRS in India as well as in countries such as Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Middle-East.

Besides, the company will focus more intently on setting up brand stores for the group's luxury menswear brands Manzoni, Parx and Park Avenue and also for the lifestyle outlet Be:.

The company would be opening its second standalone Manzoni store in Mumbai later this week, Joshi said.

"We are excited at the consumers' response to the exclusive Manzoni boutique that we opened in New Delhi. It continues to perform well month after month," he said, explaining the rationale behind the brand store, considering that so far it is present only through a shop-in-shop format at six TRS.

The company would continue to open exclusive stores for its other brands as well, as each brand has a specific positioning which becomes easier to promote through standalone stores.

Be:, a designer brand, has always been a standalone brand as focus has largely been on womenswear, with the brand forming about 70 per cent of the store's offerings. Joshi said the focus on womenswear would continue, though there are no plans to discontinue the men's range at this point.

The stores' strength currently stands at 17, which the company plans to increase to 25 by the end of the year, with about 10 more coming up in the first quarter of 2007.

"We will continue to look at the metros and mini-metros and will not look at moving to the smaller towns as at this point," said Joshi, adding that's largely because the target consumers at these stores make up the urban upper-class.

The company announced its plans to foray into the kidswear market with the Zapp brand earlier this year.