Sasya, a multi-designer store, has opened its first store in Kolkata. Spread across 10,000 sq.ft. on five floors, the outlet stocks apparels designed by Tarun Tahiliani; JJ Valaya; Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna; Shantanu and Nikhil; Gaurav Gupta; Renu Tandon; Geisha Designs; Manish Gupta; Archana Kochhar; Arjun and Anjali Kapoor; Poonam Bhagat; Rajdeep Ranawat; and Krishna Mehta. Sasya’s sister concern Simaaya is already established in Kolkata.
Speaking on the occasion, Mayank Agarwal, Director, Alipore Condominiums and Investment, said: “We are very happy to launch our new retail venture ‘Sasya’. Sasya means ‘essence’, this store is an essence of Indian accents and a fusion of western styles with a contemporary expression of Indian design. The response that we have got from the store in past couple of days is overwhelming. And, we are pretty sure that we will break-even lot faster over here as we own this property and thus there is no problem of high rentals."
According to Agarwal, Kolkata is a highly potential market; people are becoming fashion conscious and the demand for designer wear has gone up in past few years that is why they have expanded their current portfolio. That is the reason why despite of having Simaaya (multi-brand designer wear store) the company has decided to expand its portfolio by opening Sasya.
Commenting on the store name, Agarwal said: “Simaaya is pretty nearby, so we did not want to open two similar formats so close to each other, that is why we have chosen a new name for this outlet. Sasya goes pretty well with the concept of the store."
Agarwal also revealed that they do not play on margins in designer wear so their designer wear clothes are 20-30 percent more reasonable than their counterparts in other metros such as Mumbai or Delhi.
The company also wants to expand Simaaya and Sasya in other metro and key cities. But prior to that they want to maintain a good back-end support. “In designer wear stores, you need to rotate your inventory really fast, and we rotate our inventory almost 10 times in a year," Agarwal added.
With the launch of Sasya, Alipore Condominiums and Investment has opened its sixth retail format. Currently, they have two designer wear stores, Simaaya and Sasya; one bridal wear store Sia; one menswear store Saharsh; and six home furnishing stores named Stellar.
-Shubhra Saini
