Subhiksha, Spencer and Reliance did it; now Kishore Biyani's Future Group wants a share of the neighbourhood kirana sales. The group plans to open a large number of small sized stores in cities like Delhi and Mumbai, reports CNBC-TV18.

After dominating the retail space in most urban centres, retail king Kishore Biyani is all set to expand into small sized formats. And, that is after the Reliance Group and Birlas kicked off their retail plans from smaller format stores primarily due to expensive real estate in big cities.

The Future Group is set to launch its 500-1,000sq ft convenience stores through a fully-owned subsidiary of Pantaloon Retail. It is likely to be named, KB Fair Price Shops or Kharido Becho shops. This model stores will cut down the operational costs to the bare minimum and offer deep discounts. It will also offer a limited range of FMCGs, but no fresh fruits and vegetables.

Following a cluster approach, sources say, the Future Group will open a bunch of stores in one city. The first set will be rolled out in Delhi in the next few months. And, the target is to open around 1,000 stores in the next one and a half year.

When contacted Future Group’s CEO Kishore Biyani refused to comment on the new store format.
 
The buzz is that the Bharti-Walmart joint venture will also kick start with a small format store. Clearly, the modern trade retailers are not waiting for you to drive into a mall to shop at their stores. Their battle for your wallet has been extended to the local neighbourhood market.