May 25, 2014: Trent Ltd. a Tata Group firm which has a joint venture with UK retailer Tesco is looking to launch different formats of stores and these formats include mid sized stores for ‘Star Bazaar’. This was revealed by Noel Tata, Chairman, Trent in an interview to ‘Tata Review’, the groups in house magazine. The move by Trent to launch mid sized stores is to achieve profitability faster. Trent had recently opened a small convenience store called Star Daily in Pune and is looking forward to open a second store shortly.
Tata is looking forward to open atleast five stores every year in Maharashtra and Karnataka and for this they are looking forward for the expertise of the global retailer Tesco. Tesco happens to be the first global retailer to apply for multi-brand retailing after the outgoing Indian government allowed 51 per cent FDI in the segment. Speaking more about the future strategy of Trent Mr. Noel Tata was quoted as saying “We are planning to reduce focus on books, although books are still a quarter of the turnover, and look at new areas such as technology, gifting options and sports.”
He further added that “We have a large pipeline of to-be launched stores. The existing 12 Star Bazaar stores will continue and we intend to open at least five new stores every year.” Trent would be looking to focus more on lifestyle products in its stores.
