Oct 17, 2008

Business - India;Future group launches retail chain for ethnic products

First ‘Ethnicity’ store opened in Ahmedabad; 8 more to come up in two years.

With a view to providing a bigger and organised platform for ethnic products in the country, Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group has launched a retail chain of stores to market ethnic brands and products of India.

The retail giant today rolled out its first store for ethnic brand called ‘Ethnicity’ in Ahmedabad. The group plans to start 8 such stores in various cities over the period of next two years. Future Group is likely to pump in around Rs. 7 to Rs. 8 crore for each Ethnicity store, which will be spread across 25,000 to 30,000 sq. ft.

Nationwide, western brands have a wider platform than the ethnic brands. Our new concept of ‘Ethnicity’ is aimed at providing a space for smaller Indian brands and ethnic products. The stores will have wide collections of ethnic and fusion wear, jewellery, handicrafts, home decor, beauty products and accessories and gifts. All these products will be Indian, said Kishore Biyani, Group CEO, Future Group while launching the first Ethnicity store in Ahmedabad.

“In order to provide a bigger market to ethnic brands, space for such products should be there in shopping malls and that is the reason why Future Group has come up with such a unique concept”, he added.

He also expressed hopes of achieving a topline of Rs. 10,000 crore this fiscal. The Future Group clocked total revenues of Rs. 6,500 crore last fiscal.

When asked about the impact of financial markets crisis on retail market, Biyani said, “Though markets are under pressure, there is no recession in the market. FMCG, consumer durables markets have performed well last month and same is the case with retail markets”.

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