Cornerstone sets foot in city

Stores that remained on-line alone have not had a good record in the country. Many who started out try-ing to sell groceries and many other products shut shop. Here's a retailer who wants to use a combination of both online and, brick and mortar model.

Cornerstone, the menswear retail chain of Zerostock started by founder of MedPlus chain of medical stores Dr Madhukar Gangadi, had raised Rs 14 crore for investments in merchandise, store acquisition, manpower and other expenditures.

The firm is now scouting for partners to raise Rs 50 crore in its second round of funding. "We entered the menswear sector since we were comfortable with it," said Ashok Mayya, CEO, Zerostock Retail Pvt Ltd, which owns the Cornerstone brand.

A person walks into a store, selects the size and chooses the fabric he wants the shirt or trouser in. They also get to see how a fully-stitched shift in a cloth he selected would look like on the computer screen.

The stitched shirt or trouser would be delivered within 48 hours. The firm, which aims to tap the high-end menswear retail segment, says it will be able to offer garments of comparable quality at 30 per cent lesser price. "We have a tie up with the courier firm AFL," said Mayya.

At Cornerstone, the customer gets clothes of in-between sizes. But, the difference is that there will only be the samples of the sizes they are available in. The firm will have centralised inventory and will also sell products online.