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From rags to riches: The untold stories
August 07, 2007
Ram Chandra Agarwal, CMD of Vishal Retail, cannot recall the name of the company he joined for his first job. He only remembers that it was into rolling shutters and paid him Rs 300 a month. In a year, he was fed up. His father's small business of "suiting and shirting" beckoned - his two elder brothers had already joined it - but it was not big enough to accommodate the youngest son’s dreams.
He opened his own shop of readymade clothes, Vishal Garments, in Kolkata’s Lal Bazar Street, occupying 50 sq ft rented at Rs 1,200 a month. The big jump came in 1989-90, with the frenzied response to his discount sale of MNC brands like Pepe. With this came the enlightenment that salvation lay in discount retail.
The first showroom came up in 1995-96 in Tiger Cinema, Dharamtalla, over 5,000 sq ft. Following the principle of competitive pricing, it had up to 300 people queuing up to get in at the time of Durga Puja. Soon, Kolkata was not big enough.
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