Latent plans 3 more NowGadget stores

Latent Images Private Limited, which currently operates five ‘IIIrd i’ digital camera retail stores in Hyderabad, is planning to open three gadget retail concept stores under the ‘NowGadget’ brand – one each in Chennai, Bangalore and Kochi – in the next six months.

Each of these stores, with a carpet area of 5,000 sft, will entail an investment of close to Rs 10 crore, 70 per cent of which will be funded through internal accruals.

Launching the company’s first NowGadget store in Hyderabad on Wednesday, Latent Images chief executive officer Sanjay Bajaj said Latent was in talks with multiple venture capital companies to fund the expansion and expected to close the deal by January 2010.

“We are also planning to deploy Microsoft Surface, a multi-touch multi-user surface computing platform that provides information about the products on sale through natural hand gestures, for the NowGadget stores by February,” Bajaj added.