Leading lifestyle and home décor chain Rosebys, owned by Gujarat Heavy Chemicals, plans to

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re-launch its stores in the UK from next year onwards. This time the company plans to go for lifestyle format, which it claims to have clicked in India.

The company also plans to open similar stores in Belgium, France, Poland and Romania.

In India, the company at present has 100 stores. “We plan to open 300 stores by 2011.

We want to be present in high streets as well as malls,” Banerjee said. For this the company plans to invest Rs 150 crore in the next three to four year. “Though all our stores will be franchisee owned, a bulk of the investment, which is around Rs 95 crore will go for brand building. The rest of the money will be invested in logistics, administration and manufacturing” said Aloke Banerjee, CEO, Rosebys. At present, the company is using debt and internal accruals for funding. “We are not in a position to dilute equity right now as it is a start up company,” said Banerjee.

Gujarat Heavy Chemicals acquired the UK-based Rosebys chain in a $40 million deal in 2006. After the acquisition, the company had closed down all 320 stores in the UK.

“At that time, the UK was reeling under recession and the format seemed to be not working there. So we decided to close down the stores. Our lifestyle format in India has proved to be a success and we want to replicate that for UK as well,” a senior official of the company told Financial Chronicle.

Everywhere the company will be going for franchisee model only. “The model is working for us in India. We don’t want to have company owned stores as of now. The cost of setting up our own stores is very high.Besides, this gives the chance of franchisees to become entrepreneurs,” Banerjee said.

The stores have a retail space of 700-1,200 sq ft and are present in states like Punjab, Gujarat, West Bengal, Uttaranchal, Karnataka, Delhi, Uttar Predesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Rosebys saw a turnover of Rs 100 crore in the first year of operation in India. “We are looking at a turnover of Rs 500 crores in the next three to four years” Banerjee said.

The organised home décor and lifestyle products category is growing at the rate of 10 to 12 per cent year on year.

The Rs 14,000 crore market is largely untapped with a number of unorganised players.

Rosebys is present in India as concept stores with thematic product ranges. Each of the range has a different concept having an entire product range from bed covers, bed sheets, towels, cushions and adornments.