Diversified group ITC’s lifestyle retailing brand Wills Lifestyle is eyeing tier II cities as the next growth engine and plans to open 10 stores in the next fiscal in a bid to maintain its growth rate of 20 per cent.
“We will set up 10 stores in the next fiscal and we are looking at places like Patna, Guwahati, Raipur, Siliguri, Coimbatore and Nagpur for these stores. This is part of our plan to set up 45 more stores in the next 2-3 years,” Wills Lifestyle Divisional Chief Executive Atul Chand told PTI.
He, however, declined to comment on the investment adding that the company would be open to adopting the franchise model for setting up these stores.
“For these cities, we are looking at smaller spaces of 1,500 sq ft as against 3,000 sq ft and would also look at franchising these outlets to help our growth,” Chand said.
Besides, the retailer had recently opened a 1,500 sq ft boutique in ITC Maurya in New Delhi and plans to set up more boutique stores in the parent company’s hotel properties. The company currently owns 55 stores in 30 cities.