Espirit eyes 100 stores in next 3 years

New Delhi: Global apparel retail brand Espirit said it would expand its Indian operations by taking the number of its stores in the country to 100 from the existing 43.

The company, which has a presence in 45 countries across the world with 15,000 stores, is targeting metros and Tier-I and Tier-II cities in India for growth.

“We have at present 43 stores, including 20 outlets and 23 shop-in shops spread across nine cities in India. Our plan is to have a total of 100 stores in 20 cities within the next three years,” Madura Garments Chief Operating Officer (Espirit) Manjula Tiwari said on the sidelines of the Franchise India 2008 summit here.

She said the company grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 167 per cent in India last year and achieved a turnover of Rs 75 crore from its retail business.

“India is one of the three key markets for our company’s expansion in the next 3-5 years. As part of the strategy, we are planning to launch large format flagship stores in all the metro cities by 2010-11,” she said.

“Our existing stores are between 2,000-10,000 square feet in size and our new stores would also be of the same size. Besides, we are also planning to open a flagship shop in Delhi by 2010, which will be of 10,000-15,000 sq feet,” Tiwari said.

The company is looking at Tier-I and Tier-II cities for growth in the near future.

“Our stores in places like Ahmedabad and Pune are highly profitable and luxury brands like ours are going to witness huge demand in smaller cities in the years to come,” she said.

Asked about the recent downslide in retail rentals, she said, “It is a welcome development, specially for new brands like ours. We can now hope to have new spaces at reasonable prices.