Odyssey India Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd, is looking to expand its stores in malls namely Express Avenue (Chennai), Brookefields Plaza (Coimbatore) and Prozone Mall (Aurangabad) by 2010-11. The leisure retailer is set to take its store count to 60 soon.
“In 2010-11, there will be a lot of Odyssey Express format outlets coming up at Delhi Airport Terminal 3, Delhi Metro stations and some prominent IT Parks in India,” says T S Ashwin, managing director, Odyssey India Ltd.
In addition to its exclusive eye-wear stores, the Odyssey is poised to diversify its retailing business with the launch of ‘Editions’ – an exclusive store for premium international and luxury pen brands.
“Brands that we represent as exclusive licensees in India are Visconti (Italy), Curtis (Australia), Kynsey (Italy), Krone (Italy), Franklin-Christoph (USA), David Oscarson (USA), Diplomat (UK), Waldmann (Germany), Think (Italy), Stipula (Italy), etc. We will also stock some international accessories from Naldi (Italy). We are on the verge of signing up more pen brands,” reveals Ashwin.
“Confirmed projects for ‘Editions’, over the next four months, will be Inorbit (Hyderbad), Ampa Mall (Chennai) and Palladium (Mumbai),” adds Ashwin.
Expansion and Investment
Talking of the expansion plan of Editions, Ashwin says, “We are trying to make our presence in at least 10 mall stores over the next 12 months in Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.
Investment in this venture will be approximately Rs 9.0 crores over the next 12 months.”
“All these are confirmed projects. Apart from this, feasibility and review is happening on a lot of other malls and standalone properties in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai for all concepts,” concludes Ashwin.
— Diwakar Kumar
