Thai company franchise opens in Nagaland

One of Thailand's most successful companies, Smart Shop 108 Pvt limited, with franchise partner Holika Sema, has opened its first convenience chain store in Dimapur, Nagaland. The company, having 1,000 outlets in Thailand alone, has six other stores in India and plans to expand. More...

Matalan could be sold for £1.5 billion

Matalan, the discount clothing and homeware retailer, could be put up for sale next year with a £1.5 billion price tag, agency reports. More...

Inhouse Coffee opens in UAE

Syria's favourite specialty coffee chain, Inhouse Coffee, a member of the Specialty Coffee American Association (SCAA) has opened its first outlet in the UAE in Sharjah's Sahara Centre. Its UAE franchise partner is Lucre Holdings, a Dubai-based business group with interests in hospitality, media and trading. More...

1,000th shop opens at Dubai Mall

The 1,000th shop has opened for business at Dubai Mall, the world's largest shopping centre, officials have announced, agency reports. More...

Pantaloon acquires 22 million sq ft retail space, to spend more on fashion

Kishore Biyani-led Pantaloon Retail India has booked a total of 22-million sq ft of retail space and plans to make 3-million sq ft operational every year over the next 3-4 years. More...

Vishal Retail to commence debt restructuring process soon

Reeling under a huge debt of around Rs 730 crore, Vishal Retail has approached its lenders to undertake a debt restructuring process to revive the company. The company's lenders are expected to undertake the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) process soon to streamline the debt repayment, reports PTI. More...

Tag Heuer looking beyond the metros

Swiss luxury watch maker Tag Heuer is now looking beyond the metros. The company, which has seen its share in the estimated Rs 1,200 crore Indian luxury watches market, grow to 8 per cent, will multiply its presence in the country through multi-branded outlets in the smaller cities, reports Business Standard. More...

Future Group, Clarks to set up footwear retail JV

Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group and leading UK shoe retailer Clarks have agreed to form a JV to retail footwear in India, in a move that will help India's largest retailer, which runs supermarket chains Big Bazaar, Central, eZone and Pantaloon, offer lifestyle footwear, a segment the retailer has failed to crack so far, reports Economic Times. More...

Puma ties up with Gini and Jony to launch kids' wear

Sports and lifestyle brand Puma AG has announced an exclusive retail collaboration with Gini and Jony, a leading kid's wear retailer, to launch Puma kid's wear in Indian market. Gini and Jony will retail Puma kid's wear across their substantial distribution and retail network in the country. More...

Bengal allows Metro JV to sell farm goods

The West Bengal state marketing board (WBSMB), which had once refused to issue APMC (agriculture produce marketing committee) licence, mandatory to procure and sell agricultural commodities, to retail players like Spencer's and Reliance Retail, is in a new team-up role. They and German wholesale group Metro Cash and Carry, will now team up with the Kolkata-based Keventer Group for marketing agri commodities to organised retail players, reports Financial Chronicle. More...

Kolkata jeweller mulls IPO issue

Kolkata-based Shree Ganesh Jewellery House Ltd, the manufacturer and exporter of handcrafted gold jewellery, proposes to enter the capital market with an offer of public issue of equity shares, IPO, for which it has filed draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, according a statement issued by the company. More...

Panasonic to double sales in India to Rs 4,500 crore

The Indian arm of Japanese consumer durables firm Panasonic is aiming to increase its contribution to the parents' global business ten-fold within five years as it expects to double its sales to Rs 4,500 crore this fiscal. More...

Organised retail sales grow 20%

The Rs 1-lakh-crore organised retail industry, among the largest job creators in the services sector, is showing early signs of revival, after seeing its worst slowdown in the second and the third quarters of 2008-09. Estimates by the Retailers Association of India (RAI), the apex body of organised, modern retailers, show the segment has grown 20 per cent in the September quarter of this financial year. This is a leap from the 5 per cent growth it clocked in the first quarter. Just before the meltdown last year, the retail segment was growing at a pace of 35 per cent. More...