Archies to launch new retail chain, Stupid Cupid
By Our Corporate Bureau | 20 Dec 2005
Mumbai: Greetings cards and gift products chain, Archies is planning to launch a new chain of retail stores under the brand Stupid Cupid 'to give a wider choice to its prospective customers' according to the company. The new chain will focus on fashion accessories and premium gifts. By the end of the financial year the company says it will open five stores under the new brand and another 10 in the next financial year.
The stores will initially be opened in Delhi and the National Capital Region and later in other metros like Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore.
Archies, which makes and sells greeting cards and gifts, has 55 company-owned stores spread over the country and is planning to set up another 133 stores. The company also has 425 franchise stores in 180 cities in India and in six neighbouring countries.
The new stores would be opened in a phased manner over the next two years as the company has already booked the retail space for these 133 stores in upcoming shopping malls across the country, it said.
Archies has also recently tied up exclusively with the UK-based stuffed toys and gift company 'Russ' and Italian company 'Florence' for limited edition of their porcelain figurines.
For the past four years Archies' greeting cards business has witnessed a downward trend in sales. To combat the downslide the company has been changing its focus from cards to gifts for which it has tied up in a licensee agreement with Disney to sell its merchandise.
Pramod Arora, the executive director of Archies in an interview told the press some time ago that Archies gifts division had begun to contribute almost 35 to 40 per cent of the revenues.
Archies has also set up a music division recently and has been expanding the range of products sold at its outlets. Its competitors are Hallmark, Wilson, Ambassador and ITC. Archies' greatest strength lies in its retail reach as the company has around 430 retail outlets spread across over 100 cities in 6 countries.
The company added 15 new stores during FY05 and by FY06 the company plans to add 20 more stores.