Spencers to open country's first gourmet stores

CESC subsidiary Spencers Retail will open the country's first specialised gourmet stores here on July 30, CESC Vice-Chairman Sanjiv Goenka said today.

"The store will be opened at the South City Mall (in south Kolkata). This will be the first gourmet store in the country," Goenka told reporters after CESC's annual general meeting here.

The store would cater to high-end customers and sell items like salmon, caviar, fine cheese, broccoli and other gourmet delights, he said.

In reply to a question, Goenka said Spencers' proposed mall at Park Circus, where work was slow owing to the economic recession, was likely to be complete by 22 months.

Pointing out that the project was getting good expressions of interest from retailers, he said the mall would have 7 lakh sq ft of space, of which 4 lakh would be for retail trading and 3 lakh for car parking.

It would also have a multiplex and talks were on with chains like PVR, Inox and Fame, Goenka said, adding "at the end, one who gives the best deal will be in".

He said the entire trading area would be let out and an annual income of about Rs 40 crore was expected from rentals.