Spencer’s first hypermarket in Kolkata launched; plans to invest Rs. 2,500 Cr. in expansion

Spencer’s, among the oldest names in retail sector, threw open the doors of its Hypermarket store on in Kolkata on the 1st Feruary, 2008. The store was opened by the group patriarch R P Goenka.
Besides Kolkata, Spencer’s also operates hypermarket format stores in Mumbai, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Calicut, Hyderabad, Vizag, Vijayawada, Aurangabad and Durgapur.
The 72,000 sq ft store with an investment of Rs. 65 crore and stock offering of over 70,000 SKUs is a part of the South City Mall (on Prince Anwar Shah Road) of Kolkata. The City South Mall, built with a capital outlay of Rs. 650 crore and spread over one million sq ft is the biggest shopping cum entertainment complex of the Eastern region of the country. The mall, which houses six cinema screens and 134 retail stores, boasts of the presence of such iconic brand names as Pantaloons, Shopper’s Stop, Marks & Spencer, Wills Lifestyle, Lacoste, Wrangler Levis, Raymond, Adidas, Reebok, Nike, Lladro, Swarosvki, and Hidesign.
This Spencer’s Hypermarket store is the group’s first hypermarket and one of the twenty Spencer’s stores in Kolkata. The group has plans to set up three hypermarkets in the city. The other two hypermarkets of the group will come up in Mani Square mall (Bypass) and Rash Behari Avenue of the city.
Spencer’s Retail, currently operating retail stores under Spencer’s brand in Spencer’s Hypermarket, Spencer’s Super, Spencer’s Daily, and Spencer’s Express formats, has over 400 stores working across 43 cities of the country. The group is planning to scale up its operations to 52 cities in the coming months.
Spencer’s Retail, now a part of CESC, will invest Rs 2,500 crore in the next two years to ramp up its retail operations further. While it will invest Rs. 1,000 crore by March, 2009 the balance amount of Rs. 1,500 crore will be invested by March, 2010.
RPG is looking at unlocking the value of its retail business and is expected to come out with an IPO soon. Apart from Spencer’s, RPG group’s retail business also includes Music World, Books and Beyond, and RPG Cellucom retail chains.