Bata to open 260 new stores in next 3 yrs

New Delhi, June 29 (PTI) Footwear major Bata today said
it will open about 260 new exclusive stores at an investment
of up to Rs 400 crore in the next three years.
"In the next three years, we will add another 240-260
stores in the country, out of which 100 would be in the high
foot fall shopping malls," Bata Vice-President Retail
Operations Deepak Deshpande told reporters on the sidelines
of Pure&Play Retail Summit here.
Each of the new stores would cost around Rs 1.25-1.5
crore, he said.
He further said that the company is also remodelling its
old popular brands like Ambassador, Jubilee and it will focus
on women footwear brands.
The company is also looking at expanding its exclusive
stores dedicated to children wears - Hush Puppy. The company
has presently four such stores and is talking to various mall
developers for opening of more such stores.
The company plans to close down around 40-50 small stores
across the country which, the firm thinks, are not making
enough profits.
"As a strategic decision, we are shifting our focus to
large format stores which would be of 5,000-10,000 sq ft and
at the same time we are evaluating the closing down of about
40-50 small stores across the country," Deshpande added.