Lifestyle plans Rs 450-cr expansion by 2012

With the economy showing signs of rebound, Lifestyle, the retail chain from the Dubai-based Landmark group is making plans to expand its network beyond the metro cities. The company is looking at a target of setting up nearly 44 Lifestyle stores and Home Centres in three years time at an investment of Rs 450 crore.

The company has 15 Lifestyle stores (large format department store with five concepts under a single roof) and 9 Home Centres (for home products) currently in the country. Company officials admit that while business had been slow from December 2008, things began to look up from March 2009 where their retail chain recorded a double-digit growth.

“In the next one year we plan to set up 9-10 Lifestyle stores and 2-3 Home Centres in the country. We will look at Tier II cities like Kanpur, Nagpur and Jalandhar for expansion. Overall, we will invest Rs 450 crore in the next three years,” said Kabir Lumba, executive director of Lifestyle International. The investment will be funded through equity by the promoters of the company, internal accruals and debt from banks. The Lifestyle chain recorded a turnover of Rs 800 crore in 2008-09 and expects to touch Rs 1,000 crore in 2009-10.

Lumba said while sectors like apparel, fashion and acessories witnessed steady growth, there was a slowdown in its furniture sales. Furniture occupies an important share in the revenues of Home Centre. “We managed to ride the storm of the economic slowdown well but there was pressure on our furniture category. The slowdown in the retail industry last year may have affected the furniture format. Growth was flat compared to our other products, “ said Lumba.

The Lifestyle chain was set up in 1999 by the promoters of the Rs 15,000-crore Landmark group from Dubai. In India, the company offers a diverse portfolio of core retail brands such as Lifestyle stores, Babyshop, Home Centre, Max and City Max.

Oasis Centre and Max Hypermarket. Landmark India’s present turnover is Rs 1,400 crore which, company officials say is expected to go upto Rs 3,000 crore in the next 2.5 years. Admitting that footfalls had been on the decline in the past one year, Lumba said that the situation was showing improvement. He dismissed price cuts and said that the average selling price (post discount) was up by 9 per cent as compared to last year.