Apparel and textiles business Raymond plans to launch between 50 and 80 brick-and-mortar stores annually for the coming two to three years. The business plans to seek out up-and-coming temple towns for growth.
“We are pursuing an aggressive growth strategy with plans to add about 50 to 80 stores per brand going forward every year for the next two to three years,” Raymond Limited’s chief business officer for apparel Debdeep Sinha said. The business plans to focus on Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities for store openings as these locations have proved to be receptive markets for Raymond’s mid-premium and premium product lines.
Despite their smaller size, Raymond Limited has identified 33 locations where it believes there is a great opportunity for brick-and-mortar expansion. Sinha described these as “hidden gem” towns and cited Varanasi and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh as examples of developing retail hubs.
There has been an increase in religious travel in recent months. For instance, a retail frenzy was sparked by the building of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, where numerous fashion and jewellery companies opened storefronts and unveiled exclusive product lines. In the future, Raymond Limited intends to capitalise on this emotion by opening physical stores in several temple towns.
