Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Retail plans to open 20 toy stores of the UK-based Hamleys in India over the next seven years at an investment of Rs 120 crore top company official said Thursday.
With strong growth for the toy market in India, Reliance retail today inaugurated the second Hamleys toy store at Express Avenue.
UK-based toy store Hamleys holds an exclusive tie-up with Reliance Retail for merchandising its famous toys for children.
"Our first store in Mumbai which is spread across 21,000 square foot has got a very good response. It was a pilot store. Now this is a large store. With this we have plan to open 18 stores in India over the next seven years", Reliance Retail president and chief executive Officer Bijou Kurien told reporters.
The Indian toy market was valued to be at Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) and growing at a rate of 10-15 per cent every year.
As part of expanding its footprint, he said, "We will open 18 more stores under the 'Pilot Store-Large store' strategy. The investments required would be around Rs 120 crore for opening these 18 stores which would be spread across 11,000 square foot and 21,000 square foot, he said.
Hamleys Global CEO Gudjon Reynisson said they always hold a "local partnership" for merchandising their toys in any country. "Currently our toys are available in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark. Wherever we operate we have a local partner...Our association with Reliance Retail is that they have good knowledge about the market and also konw the cultural diversities of a vast country like India...," he said.
The new Hamleys store has a display of toys for girls and boys. It also hosts exclusive Hamleys merchandise. The store is designed by Hamleys United Kingdom team and the staff inducted was trained at Hamleys Academy.
Reliance Retail subsidiary of Reliance Industries opened its first retail store in November 2006. Currently it operates in 1,000 stores in more than 85 cities.
