The neighbourhood stores to be branded as KB's Fair Price shops plans to sell leading brands of around 300 essentials, almost 10 per cent cheaper than the market price and the local brands up to 20 per cent less.
"Our target is to provide essential items cheaper than market price and looking at a 20 per cent market share of the neighbourhood retail market," Pantaloons Foods MD Narendra Baheti told PTI.
1,500 new format stores are coming up in two years in top eight markets of the country aiming about 20 per cent share of the retail market in the catchment areas where these shops would be opened, he said.
The company's initiative is to give competitors like Subhiksha a run for their money. Positioned as no-frills fairprice shops with tag line 'sare jahan se sasta', Baheti said adding it would alter few rules of retail scene in India.
Baheti said initially the stores would be owned by the company and in future other business models would also be identified based on the market research and success of the project.
Asked about investments in the new venture, he declined to give a cumulative figure but said cost of setting up one 2000 square feet store was around Rs 280 per square feet as against Rs 2000 per square feet for a modern super market store.
The company plans cluster stores each in Mumbai and Delhi as a part of the pilot project followed by Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune and Chennai.
