Croma, the national consumer durables and electronics chain from Infiniti Retail Ltd, entered the southern market with the launch of their mega store at Eva Mall in Brigade Road, Bengaluru, on the 23rd. Croma has arrived as the anchor store of the renovated Eva Mall. This first Bangalore outlet takes Croma’s national store count to 12; and its national retail presence to five Indian cities.
The 20,000 square feet, large-format, multi-brand consumer durables and electronics store is spread across two floors, offering more than 6,000 products across eight product categories. The merchandise mix consists of home entertainment, small appliances, white goods, computers and peripherals, communication, music, imaging and gaming software. The store also offers around 180 national and international brands in the segment.
Speaking to Indiaretailing at the store launch, Ajit Joshi, MD & CEO, Infiniti Retail Ltd, remarked, “We are thrilled to finally launch Croma in Bengaluru; this also marks our entry into the South. We are sure that the launch of Croma will herald a new retail experience for consumers in Bengaluru, and will only add to the electric atmosphere of this electronics city.”
Infiniti Retail is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Tata Sons. The company launched the first Croma store in Mumbai in October 2006. With Croma, the company entered into a technical and sourcing agreement with Australian retail giant Woolworths Ltd. While Woolworths provides technical support and sourcing facilities, Infiniti Retail owns and runs retail operations in India.
At present there are 12 Croma stores on a pan-India basis: six in Mumbai (including a Croma Zip store at the Mumbai domestic airport), two each in Ahmedabad and Pune, and one each in Surat and now Bengaluru. The company plans to open two more Croma mega stores in Bengaluru by the end of the current fiscal.
– Saon Bhattacharya, Bengaluru Bureau
