Tata group to open third mega retail chain

Bangalore, Dec 20: After its successful foray into the retail segment in the West through its hyper market chain Star Bazaar, the Tata Group managed Trent Ltd. will gain a foothold in South by opening its first outlet in the city tomorrow.

Trent, a Rs.637 crore company, which already operates the Star Bazaar chains in Ahmedabad and Mumbai, planned to set up six outlets in Bangalore alone within the next three years by which time the country would have 20 such hypermarkets. Trent Marketing Head Neeti Chopra told newspersons here that the hypermarkets would have a wide repertoire of products made available to consumers at the lowest prices besides ensuring savings to them through 'great' discounts.

Ms Chopra said the retail boom in Bangalore was unprecedented and the Group is launching its first Star Bazaar to encash the boom.

Located in one of the prominent areas in the city, the hypermarket would be housed in a 75,000 sq feet area spread over three floors.

Trent which also operates Westside, one of the country's largest and fastest growing chain of retail stores and Landmark, offering vast assortment of books, music, movies and stationary, aimed to take its turnover to over Rs.2000 crore by 2010. It had recently tied up with DLF Universal to set up one or more of its brands in the next 12 DLF malls across various cities in India with 27 stores totalling to about one million sq ft of area.

Ms Chopra said Star Bazaar would have its second outlet in Mumbai next month and it would shortly move to Chennai and Hyderabad also. Trent aimed to make Star Bazaar a major centre in western and southern regions of the country, she added.

UNI