Scarce large spaces stump retailers in Kolkata

As mall mania braces the country and promoters struggle to find more of available retail space, many of the organised retailers are scouting for larger properties available in the outskirts of Kolkata as the city faces shortage of available bigger retail space.

For example, RPG Enterprises is scouting for land in Siliguri, Jalpaiguri and Durgapur in West Bengal to set up Spencer's stores in different formats.

"We are looking at properties ranging from 1500 sq ft to 50,000 sq ft for five of Spencer's formats "� Daily, Super, Express, Fresh and Hypermarket. What is noticeable is that even tier II towns and cities offer lucrative business as mall mania catches up there too," said Sanjiv Goenka, vice-chairman, RPG Enterprises.

Spencer's with 125 stores across 24 cities in India, is aiming for 2,000 stores by 2009 with a total shopping space of over 10 million sq ft, from 1 million sq ft of retail space at present.

Its largest format, the hypermarket, will account for 35 per cent of this space.

Similarly, Pantaloons Retail (India) too is looking for space in eastern India to set up Pantaloons as well as Big Bazaar stores in Guwahati and Agartala. It would also set up stores in Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Ranchi of eastern India.

In West Bengal, Pantaloons is eyeing properties to set up stores this year in Kharagpur, Siliguri, Burdwan, Asansol, and Darjeeling. It would also set up three more stores in Kolkata this year, in South City, Rajarhat and Howrah, of approximately 60,000 sq ft each.

At present, Pantaloons Retail occupies close to 3 lakh sq ft of retail space in eastern India with close to two lakh sq ft in Kolkata alone.

"Our aim is to occupy 36 lakh sq ft of retail space in eastern India within the next one year," said Sandeep Marwah, head "� east zone, Pantaloons Retail.

Moreover, retailers are also looking at setting up largest stores in Kolkata. In the words of Sanjeev Agrawal, CEO-Pantaloons, "We decided on Kolkata for setting up the largest Pantaloons store of India because this is the city we started off from. Our first Pantaloons store was set up in Gariahat in 1997 at a time when no one used to think of large investments in Kolkata. Over the years, Kolkata has proved to be a significant consumer, reason why we are bullish on the whole of eastern India, especially Kolkata."

The largest Pantaloons store in Kankurgachi of Kolkata spans across 85,000 sq ft.

Spencer's too is going to set up its largest Hypermarket in Kolkata.

"The Hypermarket that would shortly open in South City of Kolkata would be the largest in India covering 74,000 sq ft, larger than the one we opened in Gurgaon recently that covers close to 65,000 sq ft," Goenka said.

RPG is also scouting for land in Kolkata to set up at least 20 Spencer's stores in different formats.