The company will put up 15 Books and Beyond stores this financial year, and eventually have 50 such outlets in two years at an outlay of Rs 100 crore. Simultaneously, the Music World chain will be scaled up to over 60, from the present 90 stores, with an investment of Rs 60 crore.
The expansion will see the Music World floor space increasing from the existing 80,000 sft to 200,000 sft, said K Dasaratharaman, president (speciality retail business).
Inaugurating the group's fifth Books and Beyond outlet in Hyderabad, he said the store would stock upwards of 35,000 books and magazines.
There will be a convergence of both the formats whereby Music World will be an integral part of the bookstore. However, the Music World format will also expand independently and will have 40 more exclusive stores by this year end, he added.
RPG's specialty retail division clocked revenues of Rs 150 crore last year and expects to close the current fiscal with Rs 250 crore. "Music World currently contributes 90 per cent to the division's revenues. With the expansion of Books and Beyond and RPG Cellcom chains, we expect the combination to change from next year," Dasaratharaman said.