Nokia announces launch of Flagship London Store at 240 Regent Street

Nokia today announced that its pioneering UK Flagship Store on London's Regent Street will open its doors to the public on 8th February 2008.

Designed to set the benchmark in technology retailing practice, through the creation of an upscale, high-energy environment, Nokia Regent Street promises the ultimate shopping experience for Nokia's wide portfolio of mobile devices.

Simon Ainslie, Managing Director Nokia UK commented, "In championing our brand, Nokia Regent Street will be dynamic, original and beautifully designed. The store will provide world-class customer service and deliver a unique experience enhancing our customer's lifestyles."

"The Nokia Flagship Store pioneers new technologies and techniques, setting a new standard in the retail world as a whole. At Nokia Regent Street, everyone will be able to test the latest Nokia mobile phones and multimedia computers, and learn about Nokia's range of services and technologies in a comfortable, cutting-edge environment."

To promote the launch of Nokia Regent Street, Nokia has created Meet London, a unique exhibition that brings together the creative talent of four high profile Londoners representing film, music, sport and art to produce a series of one-off, intimate portraits that capture London in 2008. The portraits from Jaime Winstone, Dizzee Rascal, Darren Bent and Rankin will be displayed in store from 7 February 2008. They will also be available to view on Nokia's Meet London online gallery - www.meet-your-city.com.

Nokia Regent Street is the eighth store to be launched as part of the Nokia Flagship Store strategy, which aims at covering major locations globally.

The entrance to the two story experience is marked with the vivid "Nokia blue". Flooring and ceiling uses Finnish inspired Silvered Birch while the interior is distinguished by the use of perimeter LCD screens and translucent walls, back-lit by mood-evoking LEDs.

Inside the store, three intuitive zones supported by specially trained staff will simplify the purchasing process and encourage interaction with consumers. The 'Product Zone', featuring Nokia's live product portfolio where the newest devices form the focus for in-store marketing and the 'Solutions Zone' is designed to showcase the complete mobile experience encompassing music, navigation, video, imaging, Internet, gaming and mobile office capabilities.

Once consumers have seen and interacted with the latest Nokia products available, the 'Support Zone' provides a quieter space, allowing customers to set up their new device, look at service provider options and try out any new mobile enhancements.

The Regent Street location will also house Nokia's prestigious luxury line, Vertu, in a uniquely styled lounge. To compliment the handcrafted luxury nature of the range, the Vertu lounge interior uses low-iron, back painted glass, Carrera marble and high polished stainless steel.

Each Nokia device will be connected to the Internet and paired with supporting products such as stereo speakers, headsets, LCD screens, photo printers and laptops to demonstrate the complete mobile lifestyle which Nokia's range of devices can provide.

The Flagship Stores project forms the top end of Nokia's retail strategy that includes more than 350,000 retail outlets globally. All of these outlets remain essential to Nokia's on going success and continue to be the key sales channels.

NOTES TO EDITORS

The Nokia Flagship Stores are owned, managed and operated by Nokia.

All staff at the new Nokia Flagship store are graduates of the award winning Nokia Academy program, making them experts in providing accurate and personalised advice to help solve all consumer queries and concerns.

Nokia Flagship Store locations:

- Moscow - Tverskaya Street - launched on December 9th 2005
- Chicago - North Michigan Avenue - launched on June 24th 2006
- Hong Kong - Causeway Bay - launched on July 17th 2006
- Helsinki - Aleksanterinkatu - launched on August 19th 2006
- New York - Fifth Avenue - launched on September 9th 2006
- Mexico City - Polanco District - launched on December 14th 2006
- Shanghai - Nanjing Road East - launched on 29th October 2007
- London - Regent Street - to open on 8th February 2008
- London - Heathrow Terminal 5 - to open in March 2008

About Nokia

Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. Nokia makes a wide range of mobile devices and provides people with experiences in music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games and business mobility through these devices. Nokia also provides equipment, solutions and services for communications networks.

Source : Nokia Communications

Slight acceleration in Jan shop prices

British Retail Consortium presents the Scotland shop price January 2008. Year-on-Year: Shop prices in Scotland were 1.0% higher compared with a year ago, showing a slight acceleration from December's 0.8% year-on-year rise but still below the 1.1% in October and November.

Month-on-Month: In January shop prices were 0.2% lower compared with the previous month, the first time prices have fallen month-on-month since July 2007. Discounting taking place after the Christmas period has led to the reduction in shop prices.

Fiona Moriarty, Director, SRC comments:

“Scotland’s annual shop price inflation in January remained lower than the rest of the UK, as it has for most of last year. Scottish consumers continued to be protected by intense competition between retailers, ensuring much of the impact of cost increases was absorbed by retailers themselves and not passed on.”

Mike Watkins, Senior Manager, Retailer Services, Nielsen comments:

“Any inflationary pressure from seasonal, dairy or cereal-based foods is being outweighed by falls in non-food prices. Scottish retailers will need to continue to keep prices low to attract shoppers if the economic cycle turns against retailers in the next few months“.

Source : fibre2fashion.com

Arvind Mills to implement Oracle ERP for its retail outlets

Textile major Arvind Mills Limited has decided to implement Oracle' s enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to manage its growing chain of retail outlets. The project cost is estimated at around Rs10 crore.

Arvind Mills has two retail store formats, Mega Mart Outlet Centres (large discount stores), and the smaller Mega Mart stores. For the short term, Arvind Mills is looking to open eight large stores in cities such as Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai, while it plans to expand its smaller stores to tier II cities.

With each store requiring an investment of around Rs4 crore, the total outlay of Rs400 crore would be funded from internal accruals. As per Sanjay Lalbhai, managing director of Arvind Mills, last year retail stores contributed Rs100 crore to the top line of the company, and a 6 per cent profit. He said the Mega Mart Outlet Centre has been positioned as a discount store, with the tag line 'Sale on. 365 days.'

According to J Suresh, CEO, Arvind Brands & Retail, which is the retail arm of Arvind Mills, the company plans to have 30 large discount stores and 200 Mega Marts across 100 cities, and plans to achieve revenues of Rs2,000 crore by 2012. Presently, the company has 75 outlets in 25 cities.

Unlike the smaller Mega Mart stores that sell in-house brands, the large stores stock other brands as well. K E Venkatachalapathy, business head, Mega Mart says that in order to provide value to other brand owners, the company has tied-up with a minimum number of brands while offering sizeable shelf space of around 200 to 250 sq ft.

Source : http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_a/Arvind_Mills/20080201_arvind_mills.html

Putian set to bring largest Shoes & Clothing Center

Recently, over hundred enterprises from Wenzhou and Shaoxing city formally signed an investment accord to pitch-in for Putian Shoes and Clothing Center. Leaders from the local Government attended the signing ceremony.

While analyzing the reasons for such investment in this particular center, Experts opined that the local shoes-making industry has a huge demand in the market. Local preferential policies and strategic geographical position of the centre had the potential to lure flocks of traders.

Further, due to proper market planning many leather manufacturers and dealers from many areas like Guangzhou, and Henan Province have been doing business with the local footwear manufacturing enterprises for quite some time.

The Putian Shoes and Clothing Center, located in Fujian Province, covers over 320 mu, is built with an investment of around 300 million yuan. With over 1600 shops the Centre is set to become the largest shoes and clothing wholesale market in the region. Sources report that the first project is already on the verge of completion.

Source : Fibre2fashion.com

Pantaloon Retail Announces Launch of Big Bazaar in Barrdhaman City

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, a part of the Future Group, today announced the launch of its flagship hypermarket retail store – Big Bazaar – in Barrdhaman city. With this launch the company has further enhanced its reach to the masses in Eastern India having 14 Big Bazaar stores, while for the country; the count goes upto 80 stores.


Big Bazaar is widely known for its unbelievable pricing and unmatched offers throughout the year. Spread over an area of 62,000 sq.ft, Big Bazaar located at Barddhaman Arcade, 66 B B Ghosh Road, will cater to every single household needs for the citizens of the city and its neighbourhood towns.

Says Mr. Sandeep Marwaha, Head Operation, East Zone, Pantaloon Retail (I) Ltd., "Big Bazaar will bring convenience plus rich shopping experience to the people of Barrdhaman. We are a consumer-driven company and we ensure that all our Big Bazaar stores fulfills the needs of the entire household under one roof.

“Big Bazaar maintains stringent procurement norms and quality control measures to ensure quality products sold at every Big Bazaar stores. We are confident of our offerings both in quality and competitive pricing, which has earned us the trust of millions of family across the country, added Mr. Marwaha.”

Trusted by millions of family across the country, Big Bazaar will bring value to customers shopping, with its unmatched offers, discounts and unbelievable round the year promotions on all categories be it personal care products, garments, footwear, toys, home décor, home utilities, kitchen utilities, packed food, pulses, fruits or vegetables, groceries and many more.

About Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited is a leading retailer with a turnover of over Rs. 3550 crore for the financial year 2006-07. Headquartered in Mumbai, the company operates through primarily the ‘Lifestyle’ and ‘Value’ formats through multiple delivery mechanisms and lines of business — some of them being, fashion, food, general merchandise, home, leisure and entertainment, financial services, communications and wellness. The company has stores in 51 cities across the country, constituting over 6 million square feet of retail space. The company caters to the ‘Lifestyle’ segment through its 35 Pantaloons Stores and 5 Central Malls, as well as its other concepts. In ‘Value’ retailing it is present through 78 Big Bazaar hypermarkets, 113 Food Bazaars and other delivery formats.

Source : Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited

Pantaloon Retail Announces Launch of Big Bazaar in Ahmednagar

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, part of the Future Group, today announced the launch of its flagship hypermarket format - Big Bazaar – in Ahmednagar. With today’s launch, the company has further enhanced its reach to the masses in Maharashtra, with Ahmednagar Big Bazaar being the 18th store in the State, while overall tally goes upto 76 Big Bazaar stores in the country.

As part of the launch offer, customers shopping for a minimum of Rs 499/- on a single bill will get sugar on a discount prize of Rs 4.99/- per Kg (maximum 5 kg). The offer will be valid till December 31st 2007.

Big Bazaar, which displays around 1.6 lakh products under various categories, is widely known for its unbelievable pricing and unmatched offers throughout the year and is a source for mega cost savings for every home. Spread over an area of around 31,000 sq.ft, Big Bazaar located at Sarda Tower, Sarda Mill Compound, Savedi Road is Ahmednagar’s first biggest hypermarket store which will cater to every single household needs for the citizens, under one roof.

Trusted by millions of family across the country, Big Bazaar will bring value to customers shopping, with its unmatched offers, discounts and unbelievable round the year promotions on all categories be it personal care products, garments, footwear, toys, home décor, home utilities, kitchen utilities, packed food, pulses, fruits or vegetables, groceries and many more.

The Ahmednagar Big Bazaar will also house Navaras – a national brand known for fine 22 carat pure gold and diamond jewellery. Navaras offers a wide range of designs in gold and diamond jewellery other than providing nine unique benefits like BIS Hallmarked jewellery, free cleaning and polishing, insurance cover against theft & burglary, transparent making charges, zero percent weight loss, buyback, karatmeter check etc.

Says Mr. Sharad Venkata, Business Manager, West Zone, Big Bazaar, "Big Bazaar will bring convenience plus rich shopping experience to the people of Ahmednagar. We are a consumer-driven company and this is evident in every aspect of Big Bazaar. We ensure that all our Big Bazaar stores will fulfill the needs of the entire household under one roof.

“Big Bazaar maintains stringent procurement norms and quality control measures to ensure quality products sold at every Big Bazaar stores. We are confident of our offerings both in quality and competitive pricing, which has earned us the trust of millions of family across the country, added Mr. Vankata.”

The Ahmednagar Big Bazaar will also have following section devoted to specific product categories:

Food Bazaar: All food items, pulses, grains, fruits, vegetables, utensils, ready-to-eat food.
M-Bazaar: A mobile shop offering latest and affordable handsets.
Star & Sitara : Beauty products for men and woman.
Depot : Book shop offering novels, cassettes & CDs, stationeries, books.
Navaras : A fine 22 carat pure gold & diamond jewellery brand shop.
Furniture Bazaar: Offers an entire range of Home Furniture at affordable pricing.
Electronic Bazaar : Offers the best deals in branded electronic goods & appliances.
Apparel : For Ladies, Mens, Kids for all season. Western, ethnic, casuals & formals.
Appliances: All Kitchen Appliances like Mixer Grander, Toster, Microwave, Juicer etc
GM-Home: Entire range of kitchen need, Utensils, Plasticswear, Home-linen.
GM-Fashion: Accessories, Luggage, Gift items and many more…

About Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited is a leading retailer with a turnover of over Rs. 3550 crore for the financial year 2006-07. Headquartered in Mumbai, the company operates through primarily the ‘Lifestyle’ and ‘Value’ formats through multiple delivery mechanisms and lines of business - some of them being, fashion, food, general merchandise, home, leisure and entertainment, financial services, communications and wellness. The company has stores in 45 cities across the country, constituting over 6 million square feet of retail space. The company caters to the ‘Lifestyle’ segment through its 35 Pantaloons Stores and 5 Central Malls, as well as its other concepts. In ‘Value’ retailing it is present through 76 Big Bazaar hypermarkets, 110 Food Bazaars and other delivery formats.

Source : Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited