Trent Hypermarket, a joint venture between the Tata Group and Tesco, has launched its first hypermarket store, Star Hyper, at Gachibowli in the IT hub of Hyderabad and plans to rapidly expand its network of stores across formats from 42 now to 200 over next 2-3 years.

While it has invested Rs 8 crore in the hyper market, it is also setting up a warehouse near Hyderabad with an investment of Rs 25 crore

Jamshed Daboo, Managing Director of Trent Hypermarket, said, “This is the second southern market that we have ventured into after Bangalore. It is in line with our strategy to focus and expand in strategic markets.”

“At Star, we believe in creating value for our customers by offering a range of good quality products as affordable price points. Our store will also offer a wide choice of fresh fruit and vegetables and a dedicated range of meat and fish, fulfilling our customer promise around freshness, variety and price.”

The company has set up its chain across Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad and plans to expand its network significantly in these markets.

Asked about private label business, the MD said about 30 per cent of business is from private labels, which is growing by about 15 per cent.

The chain has focussed on local sourcing for its vegetables and fruits and engages with more than 150 farmers in Maharashtra and Karnataka and plans to expand this network in Telangana.

Typically Star Hyper, the bigger format chain, is spread over 15,000 to 30,000 sq.ft and has investments of about Rs 8 crore, the Star Market, a super market format is spread over 5,000 to 15,000 sq.ft and the Star Daily, the neighbourhood grocery store, has a 2000 to 5000 sq.ft format.

“One of the biggest challenges today is to get the right place and property to set up a store. We are working with a number of properties simultaneously,” Daboo said. In Hyderabad alone, it is looking at setting up about 50 stores.

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