Raymond banks on mini-stores for growth in smaller cities

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Nov 8, 2018

Textiles and apparel major Raymond is eyeing the tier 4, 5 markets for future growth and plans to open mini-stores in these areas to boost sales.
 

The company has branded its mini stores as ‘The Raymond Shop (TRS)’ which are franchisee-run shops of a smaller area of around 800 square feet.
 
Raymond will be focusing on towns with a population of 50,000 and above for expansion of its TRS stores across in the country. The investment in these stores is lower compared to the other stores and all TRS stores are expected to break even in one to two years.

“We worked on a new business plan where it will be profitable for these smaller stores to break even. Smaller stores are slated to break even in two years but some are breaking even within a year,” Mohit Dhanjal, Raymond's retail director, told BusinessLine.
 
“We see a potential to add around 100 such small format shops every year for the coming three years. Fabrics continue to find increased demand despite custom tailoring being an issue. Nearly 70 percent business in ‘Raymond’ branded stores comes from the fabric, while the remaining 30 percent is from ready-made apparels,” he added.
 
Over the last 18 months, Raymond has added 200 TRS across India with its first such store in Bitha (in Bihar) in March 2017 while the 200th store was opened recently at Hoskote (Karnataka).