Tata's Trent to invest Rs 275-cr in Star Bazaar over 3-yrs

Tata Group's retail venture Trent that operates Westside, plans to invest around Rs 275-crore over the next three-years in its hypermarket format Star Bazaar, a top company official said.

The company plans to open 50 such stores over the next 3-4 years. Currently, it has seven Star Bazaar hypermarkets in Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad.

"We have plans to open 50 more Star Bazaars over the medium-term and have earmarked an investment of Rs 275-crore for the next 3-years. However, the plan for this year is to open 7 stores," Trent's CFO P Venkatesalu told reporters on the sidelines of the company's Annual General Meeting here today.

Trent expects a break-even for Star Bazaar at the company level only after it attains a critical mass of 25 stores, he said, adding that the food and grocery business format would witness a double-digit growth this fiscal.

On Trent's overall business plans, Venkatesalu said the company has a capex of Rs 150-170 crore for the current fiscal for the expansion of all its formats such as Westside (apparel), Star Bazaar (food and grocery) and Landmark (books and accessories).

Besides, it runs various other formats such as Fiora, Fashion Yatra and Sisley and a joint venture with Spanish apparel-maker Zara of which it has opened 3 stores so far.