Krishna Group, which has diversified into apparel and accessories retailing under the brand name, The Grab Store, has earmarked Rs.150 crore for major expansion of setting up 24 outlets in the year 2009, augmenting the stock on-shelf which includes both the in-house brands besides other reputed brands. The fund will be raised through internal accruals and by means of debts. This retail chain presently operates six outlets located in Mumbai, Rajkot and Baroda. “We plan to launch 24 stores in the year 2009 on all India basis. The mix is aimed to be a 50:50 mix of company owned and franchisee outlets,” informs Mr. Sanjay Tayal, promoter of The Grab Store. Presently the retail chain has two franchised outlets at Rajkot and Baroda. The company has plan to unveil 50 doors in the next three years pan India. The target cities include both tier I and tier II cities, such as Vapi, Nagpur, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Kolhapur and Silvassa to name few. The store area would be anything between 5000 – 30,000 sq.ft. and investment amount would be Rs.500/sq.ft, reveals Mr. Tayal. While explaining the criteria the company will look for in a prospective franchisee, Mr. Tayal comments, “Location of the store available with him, his past experience in retail, the demographics of the city under consideration, the other business background of the franchisee owner and the other brands available in that city will be our primary concerns.”
