Tata\'s Star Bazaar to reduce store size

Hypermarket chain Star Bazaar aims to halve the size of its upcoming stores. The announcement has come after two months since Tata has signed a JV with British retailer Tesco.

Presently, Tata group-promoted Trent Hypermarkets, operates its store covering the area of 40,000-80,000 sq ft under Star Bazaar brand.  The company now aims to operate outlets measuring 20,000-30,000 sq ft. An official spokesperson from Tata stated, “The strategy to reduce store size is to achieve faster profitability. “

Although Star Bazaar had set up its first store in 2004, it is yet to achieve profits. In FY13, the chain registered a net loss of Rs 72 crore on net sales of Rs 785 crore.

“Hypermarket is low-margin business. If you are not careful in expansion, you will blow it up,” said the executive quoted above.