To tap the growing opportunities in the sports category, multi-brand sports and lifestyle speciality retail chain Planet Sports, a Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd company, has recently opened its first large format ‘Destination Superstore’ in Delhi.
The outlet at Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj houses an entire gamut of sports products – footwear, apparel, equipment and good experience.
“We wanted to offer the entire range of sports products. So, we decided upon this large format store to get the entire range under one roof. We call it the ‘Planet Sports Destination Superstore’. It’s all about involving sports enthusiasts and bringing out the importance of fitness,” said Rakesh Biyani, CEO, Future Group (Retail).
The store, designed in partnership with Germany-based Blocher and Blocher, has 20,000 pairs of footwear on display and consumers can browse through 40,000-plus styles of apparels and more than 7,000 accessories, 5,000 equipment and 3,100 fitness-related accessories. It also offers an extensive range of international sports and lifestyle brands such as Converse, Skechers, Wilson, Speedo, Prince, Reebok, Nike, Adidas, Spalding, Fila, Lotto and Puma to name a few.
On the USP of Destination Superstore, Ravdeep Singh, CEO, Planet Sports, said, “All our staff are trained and have experience of the games section they are assisting. The assistant at the gym and fitness section is a professionally-trained physical trainer and can guide customers on [the right] exercise equipment and nutrition. The assistants at cricket, golf, boxing simulators and other sports experience zones have knowledge of their respective games.”
On the future plans of the company, Biyani said, “By the end of 2011, we plan to open 10 more multi-brand destination stores with a minimum area of 15,000 sq.ft across tier I and II cities.”
– Priyanka Saha
