After the buyout, Tata Group's Trent plans a major expansion for Landmark

Trent of Tata group has made the 100% acquisition of book retail chain, Landmark. Trent is now looking forward to expansion plan by investing Rs.30 crore a year to add five to six outlets. "In 2005, Trent acquired a majority 76% stake in Landmark bookstore. Trent has now acquired the remaining 24% stake of Landmark book store that was held by its co-founder Hemu Ramiah. As of now, Landmark has 10 stores across cities such as Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Vadodara, Gurgaon, Pune and Lucknow. Now, Trent plans to expand its store at the rate of six stores per year. Spread over a carpet area of 1500 to 4500 sq ft, these stores provide a wonderful shopping experience for the English-speaking middle class Indian who can sit and browse through the books as long as they want. Presently, all the stores would be company-owned. The preferred location for these stores would be malls and stand-alone stores on high street", informs Himanshu Chakrawarti, present COO of Landmark, on a telephonic interview.