Big Bazaar opens 1 more outlet in Chennai

Chennai, Aug 6: Big Bazaar, one of the largest retail chain stores from the Pantaloon Retail India limited, is planning to double its presence in South India from 25 to 50 stores in the next two years.

Talking to reporters at the launch of its second Big Bazaar Store in this metropolis on Wednesday, Ayg 6, Pantaloon Retail India, Head, South Zone Rohit Malhotra said this was company's third outlet in Tamil Nadu and 25th in the South. ''With this, we have 94 stores across India. We will be touching the 100-mark milestone next month, to become the fastest growing hypermarket retail format in Asia since opening its first shop seven years back. ''In the next two years, we will have 15 Big Bazaar stores in Chennai and ten in Tamil Nadu in cities like Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Madurai, Salem, Tirunelveli, Tiruppur, Erode, Vellore and Puducherry,'' he said adding Pantaloon would double its presence in South India from 25 to 50 stores in two years.

''We will be present in all the top ten cities of the Southern States,'' he added.

He said the second shop in city was situated at the Pondy Bazaar Area. Spread over 53,000 sq ft, it housed all products needed for a Indian family, including electronics,food, appareal, furnitures, mobiles, kitchenware all under one roof at cheaper rates.

Pantaloon, which has a total of 10 million sq ft of retail stores in India, including three million sq ft in the South, has invested about Rs 15 crore in this store, Mr Rohit said.

UNI