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Deepak Goel

New Delhi , Oct. 12

DELHI-BASED Home Stores India Ltd, owner and manager of two chains — The Home Store and Sabka Bazaar — is set to expand in the country in two to three years with a total investment of Rs 100 crore.

While The Home Store (THS) offers home and lifestyle products and is present in eight major cities across the country, Sabka Bazaar, which sells food and grocery items, is present in Delhi-NCR.

The Home Store currently has 14 stores in the country in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nasik, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata. The company plans to expand by setting up 20 stores in two to three years.

Mr Mohd Abdullah, Chief Executive Officer, Home Stores India, said, "THS has an average size of 7,500 sq. ft. But with the new stores, the average size would go up." He also said the expansion of these stores would be restricted to tier-1 and tier-2 cities.

Sabka Bazaar will be expanded to most major cities in North India. The number of stores will be taken to 100 from 27. Thirty of these will come up in Delhi-NCR alone.

On how these stores are able to sell the products below the marked price, Mr Abdullah said the cost benefit achieved through bulk purchase is passed onto the consumers.

Besides the expansion of the chain stores, Home Stores India is also establishing hypermarkets in Lucknow, Agra and Panipat, with an additional investment of Rs 15 crore. While the largest of these hypermarkets will have an area of 55,000 sq. ft., the smallest will be of 30,000 sq. ft. The hypermarket in Lucknow, the first of the three, will be operational by April.

The company is also toying with the idea of a smaller version of the Sabka Bazaar stores.

Though the idea is still in the planning stage, a pilot store is already operational in the New Friends locality of Delhi and has seen encouraging results, said Mr Abdullah. Called Sabka Bazaar Express, the stores will be 300-400 sq. ft in area, dotting the Capital.

The investment for the expansion will be arranged through internal accruals, debt and venture capital, said Mr Abdullah.

Without divulging the company's turnover last year, Mr Abdullah said he targets Rs 200 crore for the next fiscal, increasing it to Rs 500 crore by 2008-2009.

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