he advent of specialty malls and dedicated outlets is forcing older retail brands to rethink and rebuild. Pantaloon Retail, the eight-year-old retail brand known mainly for its apparel and accessories, was among the first to get into multi-format retailing when it launched Big Bazaar three years back. (Other major retailers such as Trent and Shoppers� Stop are engaged only in lifestyle retailing.) Last month, Pantaloon launched two new retail format stores: a fashion retail store called Fashion Station in Mulund, a Mumbai suburb, and a seamless mall in Pune - Pune Central. While Fashion Station is a pilot project, Pune Central is a full-fledged mall sprawling over a 1.6-lakh sq ft area dedicated to shopping, eating and celebrating.

"We have launched Fashion Station to strengthen our apparel business," says Sanjeev Agarwal, head, marketing, Pantaloon Retail. "Our research shows that there is a strong consumer desire for the latest in fashion at reasonable rates and thus the need for a parallel model of retail store." Fashion Station is spread over 25,000 sq ft and retails products in the price range of Rs 99 to Rs 699. Therefore the tagline: "Fits your budget for men, women and children".... more