Pantaloon forays into furnishings segment

Lifestyle retail major Pantaloon forayed into the home retail business with the launch of its first home furnishings store called 'Mela' in Mumbai. The store is part of a bouquet of home stores across price points that will be launched by a new subsidiary, Home Solutions Retail India Ltd.

Announcing the move at a press conference in Mumbai, Raghu Pillai, managing director and CEO of the new business said, "Ours' is a solutions based approach to this category which can no longer be ignored. The stores will be a one stop shop for all home decor needs. The products will be available on two different platforms, value and lifestyle."

While some of the stores will be stand alone, others like Mela will be part of a cluster of other lifestyle offerings from Pantaloon. Among the stores that are slated to come up are 'Hometown', a one stop home decor store that will retail everything from fittings and fixtures to electronics and consumer durables.

"The first store is expected to be setup in Gurgaon by May 2006. The other stores will come up at Thane, Bangalore and Noida. The first home store on the lifestyle platform will be setup in Indore by October this year. By 2007-08, the company expects to have, 6-8 of the lifestyle brand in the top six cities including Pune and Vizag, Pillai, in addition to the flagship Hometown," said Pillai.

While the lifestyle brands will be available at Pantaloon's Central malls, the products at lower price points will sold at the Big Bazars.

These products would be available on the value platform by Diwali this year, he added. Pantaloon has lined up Rs 300 crore for its new business.