Globus to invest Rs 800cr in 130 new stores

Globus, the Rajan Raheja group's fashion apparel retail chain, is
planning to open 130 stores across 70 cities in the next five years. The
group will invest Rs 800 crore for the same.

Out of the total, 70 stores, with a store size of 8,000 to 10,000
sq ft, will be located in tier-II towns, 35 stores in tier-I cities and metros, and 25 to 30 smaller stores, with a store size of 6,000 to 8,000 sq feet, in tier-III cities. At present, Globus has 19 stores.

The group is also planning to launch an e-commerce portal from October to promote its brand and boost sales. "The online model is comfortable for our audience. We want to leverage on our brick-and-mortar model on the e-commerce platform. A section of the stores will be available on the portal,'' Globus CEO Vinay Nadkarni said.

Ludhiana, Vashi, Nagpur, Mumbai, Nasik, Rajkot, Jodhpur, Faridabad, Jaipur, Surat, among others, will see new Globus stores in 2008.

On the slower roll out of stores in the past, Nadkarni said: ''We have to
build everything from scratch, from sourcing to design studios. Since we
have built our back-end completely now, we can focus on front-end expansion.''

On the increased focus of the company in tier-II cities, he said: ''There
is very good potential in tier-II cities with increased buying power and
increased desire for fashion. These factors, coupled with lower real estate
costs, made us take the first mover advantage in cities such as Ranchi,
Dehradoon, Raipur and so on, which do not have many retail destinations.''

Globus has signed actor Kareena Kapoor as its new brand ambassador. Another cinestar, Soha Ali Khan, endorsed the brand for a while. "Since we are focusing more on youth and style, we chose Kareena who has a sense of style, charisma and attitude and a pan-India popularity.''

Globus is planning to launch fashion footwear and lingerie in a couple of months. "We have a state-of-the-art design studio in Lokhandwala in Andheri. The 40-odd designers and product specialists watch various fashion trends across the globe, and see whether they can be adapted to the Indian fashion scene,'' Nadkarni said.

The company posted sales of Rs 145 crore in 2006-07, and is expecting sales of Rs 250 this year. "We anticipate sales of Rs 17,00 crore per annum by 2012,'' he said.