Allen Solly looks for expansion in North-east market

Aditya Birla Nuvo group apparel brand Allen Solly is looking to expand its market in the North Eastern states and plans to have 10 flagship stores in the region by end of this fiscal.

"We have three flagship stores in the North East currently, including the one in Guwahati which we opened today. The response from the customers have been good and by end of 2013-14 we plan to have at least 10 such stores in the North East, including four in Assam," Allen Solly Head (Brand) Sooraj Bhat said here today.

"North East is a market which we are going to penetrate aggressively into," he added.

He said all the stores of the brand would be under the franchisee route but the group is also "flexible" about setting up company-owned outlets.

"We are also present in a number of shop-in-shops and we are also looking to further expand our presence in that segment," Bhat said.

He said Allen Solly, with its casual brand of apparels catering to men, women and kids have made a good impression on customers of the region.

"We basically focus on international concept. It is a concept of providing a complete retail experience to our consumers," Bhat said.

The company's flagship store in Guwahati opened today has an area of 1,400 square feet and its upcoming outlets in the North Eastern market would be of around the same size.

Bhat said that Allen Solly is targeting the Tier II and III markets more and more with main focus on the middle-class consumers.