Arvind shuts Debenhams stores in India

Arvind Lifestyle Brands, which has the franchise rights of British retail chain Debenhams in India, has pulled the shutters of the department stores to work on a new strategy to turn around its business in the country. The plan is to bring down prices and explore third party e-commerce route to establish presence of Debenhams in the country.

After acquiring franchise rights in 2012, Arvind could not open a single new Debenhams store since the price points of the range under this departmental chain are too high. Also the existing stores were not doing well because of the high prices as well as wrong choice of locations.

Arvind Lifestyle had acquired the franchise for Debenhams along with the business of Nautica and Next from Planet Retail. At the time of acquisition, the company proposed to open six new Debenhams stores in India by 2017 eyeing to grow the business to Rs 500 crores.