Sagar Malviya, The Economic Times Mumbai, December 25, 2012 Teenager Aniruddha Aggarwal keeps nearly a dozen pairs of jeans stacked up in his cupboard. The brands range from international labels such as Wrangler and Lee to local ones like Killer and Flying Machine. But one brand that is barely visible in Aniruddha's closest is Levi Strauss. Reason? Aniruddha's father swears by the denim brand that sports the leather tag with the iconic two-horse design - virtually every denim in his wardrobe has the Levi's stamp on it. "Levi's is a good brand, but it's what my father and his generation…
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Raghavendra Kamath & Sharleen D'Souza, Business Standard Mumbai, December 22, 2012 Quality space and high street seem to sell even in a slow economy. While many malls in the country are going vacant and space supply surpassing demand in many cities, shortage of quality space and heavy demand from retailers for high-footfall areas have pushed up high-street rents by 58 per cent this year. Vittal Mallya Road in Bangalore, Colaba Causeway in Mumbai and Camac Street in Kolkata have seen a rise in rents of 58 per cent, 56 per cent and 33 per cent respectively, said a study from…
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Yassir A Pitalwalla, Meghna Maiti, Financial Chronicle Mumbai, December 10, 2012 McDonald’s outlets in south and west India are going for a changeover as Hardcastle Restaurants (HRPL), the master franchisee for west and south India operations is preparing for a reverse merger with its parent Westlife Development (WDL). With the changeover, HRPL aims to connect better with older customers and increase sales. “Fashions too change over time. To keep ourselves relevant we are reimaging the look of our restaurants by going in for softer lighting, more use of wood and more apt graphics. This whole new design has already been…
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Raghavendra Kamath, Business Standard Mumbai, November 19, 2012 His rivals and analysts may not agree, but Future group Founder and CEO Kishore Biyani insists that his mall concept, Central and discount chain Brand Factory, have become “the largest department store network” in the country. Central and Brand Factory, whose financials are integrated, posted a turnover of Rs 2,200 crore in FY 2012, while Raheja-owned department store chain Shoppers Stop posted sales of Rs 2,167 crore and Westside, the department store of Tata-owned Trent, posted a turnover of Rs 770 crore. “Both the formats are bigger in sales than all other…
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Priyanka Pani, The Hindu Businessline Mumbai, November 16, 2012 Mahesh Patel, owner of a departmental store in suburban Lokhandwala in Mumbai, is disappointed with the festival sales this year. Patel, who also trades in crackers, said there was a 20 per cent decline in sales this time. Several big box retailers such as Shoppers Stop, Pantaloons and Croma, which form some 6 per cent of the retail market (according to retail advisory firm Technopak), were reported to have witnessed a bumper sale. The rest 94 per cent feel that this festival season was the worst in the last four years.…
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