Sanvie Retail plans to add 50 SNV Shoppe outlets in next 2 years

What prompted you to get into retail business and that too at a time when e-tailing or online shopping is widely perceived to be giving physical retailing a run for its money?

To answer first part of your question I must tell you the history of our group. More Group started its operation in 1946 and at that time, the group was into manufacturing of easy to wear apparels and concerned fabrics under the brand name-Shyam Sunder Satyanarayan, the founder. We were the pioneers in bringing denim to India and making it a commonplace fashion product. Our founder believed that denim would be a future fabric which would be worn by every farmer in India as he moved from traditional fabrics to denim. In 1989, a new vertical called Denimagic was formed accordingly. It was one of the first denim processing plant in the country which was eventually developed to be the largest in eastern India and subsequently the largest in India with technology and machinery bought from Spain and Turkey in 2004.

Responding to growing demand, the Group set up another factory-Mayur Processors in 1996. In 2000 the factory started garments production as a 100 per cent EOU and started serving the markets of the US, South America and Middle East. In 2009, two more new apparel brands- Appleeye and Morenee were rolled out for fashion-loving Indian consumers. Subsequently, we put up another garment processing plant (third plant), which is currently the largest and most modern processing unit in eastern India and one of the largest in India. Denimagic and Mayur's production put together, we have the highest capacity for Denim processing in India. In between, in 2017, we threw open Kolkata's biggest indoor amusement park for kids, called 'Whooppee'.

So you see, we have historically all along been into textile, garments and so on. Therefore foraying into retail was only logical next step. We had been waiting for the right opportune moment. And that moment came during the pandemic, when we got an opportunity to buy out 75 retail outlets from another player, who was not being able to run them any longer, at right locations and at right price. So in 2021, we took a plunge and forayed into retail business. And to answer the second part of your question, we always think that the right time to move in or invest is when the market is down or at its low and you get the right thing at the right price.

How many outlets do you have at this point in time? How many more would you add over the next two years or so?

At present, SNV Shoppe has as many as 20 flagship outlets, accompanied by 55 marketed stores across West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi - 21 stores in West Bengal, 14 stores in Odisha, 5 stores in Assam, 17 stores in Uttar Pradesh, two stores in Madhya Pradesh, three stores in Jharkhand, 10 stores in Bihar, one store in Tripura, and two stores in New Delhi. We are planning to add another 50 such outlets in different parts of the country over the next two years. So by 2024, we will have 125 SNV Shoppe outlets across the country.

How many of these outlets are company-owned and how many are franchisee owned? If you do not have any franchisee-owned outlet at present, do you have any plans to get into the franchise model, going forward?

All of our existing outlets are company-owned. And at this point in time, we do not have any plans whatsoever to have franchise-owned stores, anywhere.

Do you only sell apparels from SNV Shoppe or other things also? Do you only sell your own products or others' products as well? In future, do you have plans to extend or expand the product line?

SNV Shoppe is a one-stop destination that strives to offer customers a wide range of products at an affordable price, all under one roof. We curate exclusive designs for its customers, ranging from sophisticated office wear to everyday necessities, from versatile ethnics to comfy loungewear to a stunning new line of athleisure wear. The main objective of SNV Shoppe is to bridge the economic gap by making high quality apparel that can be affordable by the masses. We will be rolling out and introducing new and new range in new and new categories.

What is the overall investment that you are looking at over the next two-three years to back up your retail expansion plans?

So far we have been investing through internal accruals. But now we are planning to raise funds to the tune of Rs 500 crore through the venture capital (VC) route. We are already at different stages of negotiations with a number of domestic and overseas VCs in this regards. Some of them are seriously interested also. Hopefully we will close this over next few months. The fund will help us backing up our retail expansion plans.

By when, you think you can have your pan India presence? Would you have only one brand in retail space- SNV Shoppe, or eventually you would roll out other brands, maybe at different price points?

For the time being we will focus on eastern India, north-eastern India, parts of central and northern India, where we have already stepped in and some other places in these states. Once we manage to consolidate our position in these areas, then we will look beyond and move into other places. SNV Shoppe will continue to be our flagship brand and we will certainly roll out other brands and sub-brands as we move along.

What is the average size of the store that you are looking at? Would all of them have uniform look and feel?

Although sizes do vary and will vary, all the outlets will have uniform look and feel. Some of the outlets will be one-storied while some other maybe two-storied or three-storied, depending on the availability of the space and the type of locality.