New Business Opportunity

Harley-Davidson recently announced the appointment of five dealerships in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Hyderabad, which will start booking the […]

Cocoberry, India’s first premium frozen yogurt chain is eyeing 50 retail outlets across India by the end of fiscal 2010-11. The company, which at present has about 11 operational outlets in Dehi NCR and Mumbai, plans to expand its reach in cities like Chandigarh, Bangalore, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata etc in the next one year.  Cocoberry, which launched its first store in Feburary 2009 in Delhi has earmarked an investment close to Rs 120 crore for expansion in the next two years. It has set a target to grow to about 100-150 outlets over the next three years. The nationwide expansion of Cocoberry outlets is a new sunshine opportunity for signage players like in-store media companies, sign suppliers, print providers, etc.

Tata International Ltd—the global trading arm of the group and one of the country’s biggest export houses—plans to set up

Komala’s Restaurants, South Indian fast food chain from Singapore, has entered India with its first outlet in Mumbai. The firm has teamed up with Primary Cuisine Pvt Ltd as the master franchisee. The outlet is spread across an area of 3,000 sq.ft at High Street Phoenix, Mumbai. The company has further plans to unveil two more outlets this year and seven more outlets in 2011 in western and northern India. In addition to a new opportunity to nurture everyone’s taste buds, the new Komola’s Restaurants are the right corners for signage companies too as it would give new business opportunity to ins-tore signage companies, sign suppliers, etc.

Weekender, a casual wear retailer, has grown up to keep up with its loyal customers of the past. As soon

Arvind Brands brings Italian menswear label Energie to India, ending its three-year long wait to retail an international denim brand.

British retail giant Tesco is planning to open its first cash-and-carry store in India by the end of this year

Middle East retail chain Max, part of Landmark group, is expanding its footprints across India, especially in the south. The company accounts for maximum revenue Max fashion brand, expecting double revenue to breach Rs 400 crore mark by March 2011. Using ‘pocket-friendly prices’ as its USP, the Rs 188-crore Max is offering apparel for family. Max has 16 outlets operating in the metros while the rest are located in the Tier II towns. It plans to take its total store count to 53 by March 2011. With the expansion of the global retail giant’s retail outlets, in-store signage players would find a new pace in business.

National Textile Corporation (NTC) is ready to return to retailing in a chic avatar by modernising its 100-odd showrooms as

Lifestyle International Pvt Ltd, a part of Dubai-based retail chain Landmark Group, has opened its 18th Lifestyle store in India

Popular diamond retail chain ORRA Diamonds has drawn up a Rs 75-crore plan for retail expansion over the next three years. The company already has 29 stores in 19 cities across the country and is adding four new stores in Baroda, Lucknow, Jallandhar and Amritsar this year. What ORRA Diamonds is moving ahead is with a vision to set another 16 new stores in the scheduled period. Now is the time for signage players like in-store sign companies to get set on their marks for the D-day to hit the glitter zones.

Q-Mart Retail Ventures Private Limited, the promoters of Q-Mart lifestyle super market, signed an agreement with CFW International Inc (Curves India) to set up 18 Curves centres in Andhra Pradesh. CFW International is the master licensee of Curves brand of fitness centres for women in India. The centre offers fitness, strength training and weight loss guidance. While 15 centres would come up in Hyderabad, one each has been planned in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati. Not only for the fitness aficionados, the new curve centers will carve a new business opportunity for signage players too.

Raymond is planning to open 100 retail stores through its franchisee network in tier-IV and V cities, such as Bijapur,

Delhi-based A K Retail plans to unveil 20 more exclusive brand outlets of Maishaa, its exclusive high-end home textiles stores,

Discount store chain The Loot announces its process of raising Rs 100 crore to boost its growth. The company, which recently forayed into the shop-in-shop format, plans to open 10 more such stores this quarter and is talking to players like Reliance Retail, Aditya Birla and Future Group among others for this. Out of the 10 stores, five would come up in Mumbai. Currently, The Loot has 150 odd stores pan-India and over the next six months, the company plans to open 40 more standalone stores taking their total number to 200, including the ones in shop-in-shop format. Now, signage players like in-store media companies, sign makers and print providers can get set to loot a new business opportunities in the new stores.

Global giant retailer Wal-Mart plans to launch more ‘big box’ wholesale outlets in India as the global retail giant has

Bharti Walmart, the 50:50 JV between Bharti Enterprises and Walmart Inc, announces that the company will enter the southern and

Cocoberry, India’s first premium frozen yogurt chain, is eyeing 50 retail outlets across India by the end of fiscal 2010-11. The company, which at present has around 11 operational outlets in Dehi NCR and Mumbai, plans to expand its reach in other cities like Chandigarh, Bangalore, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata etc in the next one year. New stores are likely to be launched in Jaipur and Bangalore within the first quarter of next fiscal and about two-three outlets are in the pipeline for launch in Chandigarh. Now the mushrooming of Cocoberry retail outlets in big cities across India is a new business punch for in-store media companies, print providers and fabricators in the signage sector.

Japanese retailer Ryohin Keikaku is all set to enter the Indian retail market with its furniture brand Muji. The single

MMTC Limited, a public sector enterprise and the leading bullion trading company of India, plans to increase its footprint in the retail market. The company envisages to open 100 outlets, including company owned as well as joint venture and  stockists in the near future. The brand had been getting huge response from retail buyers in the exhibitions organised at various centers over the years. The company under Shuddhi (a JV of Gitanjali and MMTC) planned to open 63 outlets and out of these about 25 should be opened in Delhi. The silver lining in the new expansion move of MMTC is that signage players like in-store media companies, sign suppliers, etc could find a new opportunity in the new jewellery outlets.