Trent to launch hyper mart in Ahmedabad

The Tatas-owned retail chain Trent Ltd is set to launch its first hypermarket in the country in Ahmedabad.

Christened Star India Bazaar, the Trent hypermarket is expected to be opened on October 30 or November 4. The company has plans to open 25-30 such outlets across the country in the next six years.

"There is a huge potential for overall organised retailing in the country. While apparel retailing is estimated to be worth Rs 30,000 crore, grocery retailing is worth over Rs 180,000 crore in the country," said Himanshu Chakrawarti, general manager, marketing, Trent, at a media briefing in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

The Ahmedabad hypermarket will be located at the Iscon Mall in the Satellite area.

Trent officials said they were not in a position to disclose the investments made in the project.

Besides Ahmedabad, two more Star India Bazaar hypermarkets will be opened in the current fiscal at Mumbai and Bangalore.

At present Trent has 16 Westside stores across the country which mainly deal in apparels.

On the company's plans to compete with the Adani group which has a chain of supermarkets and hypermarkets in the state, Saurabh Chadha, senior general manager, buying and operations, supermarkets, Trent, said: "The market itself is so huge that there will not be any competition as such."

"Only two per cent of the country's retailing is at present organised. There is room for several players in organised retailing in the country," he said.

Chakrawarti said the Star stores will be MRP-based with discounts and fortnightly promotions.

"We will have over 50,000 different products on display at the store and a variety of brands. Besides, there will be private labels which will be priced far cheaper than comparative products of different brands," said Chakrawarti.

He stated that the expected sales targets from the venture or the investments involved could not be disclosed as the company's results were expected by the month end.

According to Chadha, Trent expects at least 10,000 persons to walk into the store per day.

"We will begin providing home delivery options from January 1 next year," he said.