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Mumbai: The books, music and gift retailer Landmark, a subsidiary of Tata group’s Trent, is planning to push its market share in the segment by launching new outlets in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.
The company is planning to invest about Rs 30 crore this financial year for its expansion plans. Landmark was set up in 1987 with its first store in Chennai. Now, it has a total of 11 outlets spread over Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Vadodara, Gurgaon, Pune, Ahmedabad and Lucknow. Five new stores, two each in Mumbai and Hyderabad, and one in Chennai, would be opened during financial year 2010.
Chief operating officer Himanshu Chakrawarti said, “We see the new launches to be the revenue growth drivers for the company.”
Last year, the turnover of the company was at Rs 200 crore. Chakrawarti said that the company has been successful in coping with the economic slowdown.
He added, “All the retailers suffered last year. But the book business is recession-proof. Also, the past three months have been much better.” The unique feature of any ‘Landmark’ store is that it follows a catalogue format in its stores that helps it carry a wide range of books and music under every section, Landmark said.
The company also organises celebrity events such as book-signing functions with leading writers and performances by popular music artists at its stores. Literary heavyweights such as Jeffrey Archer, Salman Rushdie, RK Laxman and Kiran Desai have been a part of book events at the store. Musicians such as Adnan Sami, Falguni Pathak, Kailash Kher and Shaan have performed at music launches.
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