Hero Group forays into home decor

Amid growing demand for household design, two-wheeler maker Hero Group has ventured into home decor market and plans to initially invest Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million) to launch 40 lifestyle stores across the country in the next two years.

The company has launched two stores, one each in Gurgaon and Delhi, and would open the third one in the city by November. It plans to open 18 stores by March 2008. It is also looking to make overseas foray by rolling out a retail home decor outlet in Dubai.

"We are going to open 40 stores across the country in the next two years with an initial investment of Rs 40 crore," Hero Motors managing director Pankaj C Munjal told PTI.

The group would open its chain of lifestyle and home decor stores - OMA - in 22 cities, including Tier II ones, he said, adding "smaller cities have a huge potential as they don't have much choice and variations."

It has planned to open five stores in the national capital region and two in Mumbai. When asked about the revenue, OMA Promoter Charu Munjal said, "We are expecting a sale of Rs 3-4 lakh from each store."

The company has tied up with furniture store - Proform for its Gurgaon outlet. Out of 40 stores it has planned to open, 35 would be on standalone basis and the remaining would be with Proform.

For this venture, the group has signed an MoU with Denmark's Villa Collection. "We have a supply, interior decoration and new design import contract with the Danish firm," Pankaj Munjal said.

OMA has formed a supply contract with Thailand government's initiative - Royale Porceliel - and would shortly sign a profit sharing MoU with it, he said.

"We also have an exclusive supply understanding with USA's DK Living," Charu Munjal added.  She said that 80 per cent of the items are imported and 20 per cent are self-manufactured, mainly silver goods.

The company has also tied up with real estate developer Uppal for interior designing of its residential projects, Pankaj Munjal said.