Future rejigs Best Deals format, shuts 3 outlets

Jul 20, 2009

Future Group Ltd, the diversified retail group, has decided to rework the model of its small-format grocery store, Big Bazaar Best Deals, which it was testing in the suburbs of Mumbai, reports DNA.

Citing a senior official, the report said the company has already shut down three of the four outlets it opened.

Earlier, Future Group had plans to open 1,000 Big Bazaar Best Deals outlets across India over a period of three years. "We started prototyping the format in Mumbai and had opened four stores in the suburbs. But we have identified things that need to be reworked," quoted the senior official in the report.

One of the things that went wrong with the format was location, the official added. The official, however, did not elaborate on the new roadmap for the project.

Future Group already has KB's Fair Price chain of neighbourhood stores. Its Best Deals outlets would have been in direct competition with the local kirana, or mom-n-pop, stores. "The idea was to have a smaller format of our existing Big Bazaar stores, and to provide services such as home delivery to customers," the official said.

Earlier, Future Group had also announced it was looking at a special format to rent apparels and accessories, an area dominated by the unorganised sector. The company has for now put that idea on hold, the report said.