Welspun Retail Ltd (WRL), the youngest member of the US$1.5 billion Welspun Group, is actively spreading its wings to touch tier 2 and 3 cities apart from the metros. With two brands in its portfolio, Welhome and Spaces, WRL is among the leading organised retail players in the home segment.
Speaking to Indiaretailing, Dipali B. Goenka, director, Welspun Retail Ltd, said, “Spaces offers affordable luxury and it is available through our own stores, MBOs and through a network of about thousand retailers. Welhome, on the other hand, is in the form of value retail stores. If you look at the population, most of it resides in tier 2 and 3 cities, and the aspirations run very strong there, too. Also, in the home market, there isn’t much that is being offered.”
Presently, Welhome has a network of more than 150 stores across the country; and Spaces has 12 stores in the major metros. Goenka informed, “We are practically opening two stores of Welhome each day, and we plan to have around 200 Welhome stores by end-November across India.”
Talking about expansion, Goenka added, “By FY09 we plan to have 100 stores for Spaces and 500 stores for Welhome.” Also, “This year we are looking at a turnover of Rs 80-90 crore, and by FY09 we are anticipating Rs 200 crore and by 2011, Rs 1,000 crore.”
– Zainab Morbiwala, Mumbai Bureau
