Future to double retail footprint to 10 million sq ft

FUTURE Retail, the country’s largest listed retailer, has aggressive plans to double its retail footprint from the existing 5 million sq ft to 10 million sq ft by April next year. “We are opening a new store everyday. We would double our retail space from 5 million sq ft to 10 million sq ft by April next year,” Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani told ET. Mr Biyani refused to divulge total investment in the planned expansion. The group on Friday opened its first HomeTown, the home improvement retail store, in Noida. It plans to open eight more Home-Towns across the country in the next 12-18 months, with an investment of Rs 20 crore envisaged per store. The new HomeTowns, with an average area of 1-2 lakh sq ft, would come up at Ahmedabad, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Lucknow, Gurgaon and Kolkata. Mr Biyani said each store is expected to generate revenues worth Rs 200-300 crore in the first year of operations. Besides furniture and furnishings, a HomeTown would also offer credit facility to consumers through Future Money, an arm of the group’s financial products and services company, Future Capital. Home Solutions, the company spearheading the HomeTown format, also launched a new services division which would offer services such as plumbing and carpentry to consumers. While initially it would offer services bundled with products only, Mr Biyani said that the company would start offering standalone services like bill payment, maintenance and pest control in the next 3-6 months. Future Group is in the process of spinning off Central its malls division, Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar and Pantaloons into separate profit and loss centres. Future Media, the retail media development and management arm of Future Group, would focus on modern public spaces like multiplexes, malls and entertainment centres. Media behemoth WPP‘s arm, GroupM, recently bought a 10% stake in Future Media. Mr Biyani refused to comment on Starbucks’ entry problems. The American cafe chain is entering India in partnership with Future Group and VP Sharma, head of Starbucks’ Indonesian franchisee.

Courtesy: EconomicTimes
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