Home furnishing retailer HomeTown is looking to expand in Calcutta. The expansion is part of the company’s plan to open 100 stores in the next 3 years.

HomeTown is owned and operated by Praxis Home Retail Limited, an independent listed entity following the demerger from Future Retail in 2017.

“The expansion will be majorly in tier 2 cities and also tier 1 cities. We have 11 stores in the east and 4 in Calcutta and we are planning at least a couple more in Calcutta. We will be adding more stores in Patna, Ranchi and Raipur where we already have stores,” said Mahesh Shah, managing director HomeTown.

He added that the company is scouting for locations which are expected to be finalised soon.

HomeTown at present has 44 stores across the country spread over 8.42 lakh square feet of retail space in 28 cities.

According to the annual report of Praxis, the company clocked a turnover of Rs 703.72 crore for the year ended March 31, 2020 which came down to Rs 378.67 crore for the year ended March 31, 2021 as business was affected by the pandemic.

The company however hopes to make a quick recovery, with its retail store expansion being supported by e-commerce sales.

Shah said that the home improvement market has shot up globally driven by the pandemic and the same trend is also seen in India with the demand for study tables, home office furniture, garden furniture, balcony furniture going up.

Demand for furnishing has also gone up with people seeking largers spaces for work-from-home purposes.

“It’s about how we ensure that the customer gets what they want. We have started looking at digital as an important medium. Our ecommerce sales have grown to 17 percent of total turnover and we are growing every quarter,” he said.