First Disney franchise store opens in India

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New Delhi, Mar 17: After its tie-up with master franchising group, Devyani International Ltd (DIL), Walt Disney on Saturday launched its first merchandise store in India. Names ‘Disney Artist’, the new store chain will sell company’s branded kids products.

Through a licensing agreement with DIL, the global entertainment major plans to invest Rs 150 crore for setting up 300 such stores in the next five years across the country of which the first 22 outlets would become operational in the current year itself.

“In tie-up with the Walt Disney Company India Private Limited (TWDCI), we are investing Rs 150 crore by setting up 300 exclusive kids stores in the next five years. We will open 22 ‘Disney Artist’ stores in 2007 with an investment of Rs 10 crore,” said Ravi Jaipuria, chairman of RJ Corp – the parent company of DIL.

The new stores, targeting children in the age group of 3 to 10 years, will sell products like stationery priced in the range of Rs 25 to Rs 900, Jaipuria said, adding, “Besides the big cities, the stores would open in tier-II cities like Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar.”

“For the moment, the Disney products will be imported. But once we open the first 100 outlets, we would start manufacturing units in India itself,” Jaipuria said.

The group is already in talks with some major schools in the National Capital Territory for a tie up.

“We hope to break-even in two years and our marketing strategy includes tie-up with schools and we are targeting the affluent society. The affluence levels of people in India is rising along with heightened awareness of global brands and overwhelming acceptance of global retail formats,” said Virag Joshi, president & CEO of DIL.

“India is a very important market for our growth. We aim to take the Disney characters, mainly Mickey mouse, Winnie the Pooh etc., to the Indian kids at a reasonable price,” said Rajat Jain, managing director of TWDCI.