Hanung Retail to open 50 stores by 2009-end

New Delhi: Hanung Retail, retail arm of Hanung Toys & Textiles announced to open 50 home furnishing and soft toys stores by the end of this fiscal with an investment of Rs 4.5 crore.

'We have plans to open 30 stores of Play-n-Pets, which showcase wide range of toys and 20 Splash stores of home furnishing by 2008-09,' Hanung Retail General Manager Varun Sachar said in Chandigarh.

Since the company has adopted franchise route for its retail format, the capital expenses for opening store is estimated at Rs 9 lakh per store.

Initially, Hanung has plans to cover north India for its stores. 'We will open our stores in Uttaranchal, Allahabad, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Mohali and Amritsar and some other parts of the country,' he said.

Presently, it has four Splash and three Play-n-Pets stores, mainly located in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Jammu and Dehradun.

However, he refused to divulge any projections of the total sales from the retail operations.

The company, which started its operations in April this year, is also looking at the possibility of having an in-house packaging division for its home furnishing products.

'Presently, we are getting our products packed from outside, which adds to our cost. That is why we are thinking to have our packaging division,' he said.