Bangalore, Jan.
24: Aditya Birla
Retail
Limited is looking at setting up 500
supermarkets across the country by March
this year, its top official said.
"From the
current 350 we will be scaling up our
supermarkets to 500 by March 2008", Sumant
Sinha, CEO of Aditya Birla Retail Limited,
told a news conference here announcing the
rebranding of Fabmall grocery supermarkets
to ""more".
The
rebranding follows acquisition of the
Trinethra Super Retail that includes retail
brands Fabmall, Trinethra and FabCity by
Aditya Birla retail in January 2007.
As a result
of the integration process, 68 Fabmall
stores in Karnataka will be rebranded under
the umbrella of "more", he said.
This
acquisition has provided the firm a strong
retail footprint in South India, extending
to 275 stores in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,
Tamil Nadu and Kerala where it is the
leading food and grocery retailer.
Currently
Aditya Birla Retail has 60 stores in
Bangalore, eight in Mysore and 10 in
Mangalore.
All Fabmall
stores will be re-branded to "more" by
January end. The company is looking at 100
stores in Karnataka by the end of this year,
he said.
The "more"
stores will offer a wide range of product
categories including fresh fruits,
vegetables,s taples, personal care, home
care and household general merchandise and
dairy products, basic
apparels
and pharmacy.
The firm is
looking at an investment of Rs 8,000-10,000
crore in next three to five years over 1,500
supermarkets and 50-100 hypermarkets across
the country, Sinha said.
"We will be
also be exploring other retail formats by
the end of this financial year".
Published:
Friday, January 25, 2008
