Shoppers on a spree at a Pantaloons outlet. A Telegraph file picture

After the pioneering Pantaloons family stores and the hypermart experience of Big Bazaar, it?s time for Kishore Biyani, supremo of the Rs 1,100-crore turnover Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd, to bring a set of novel formats to Calcutta.

In the city that has a ?great emotional connect? with the Pantaloons brand, the group is taking its footprint to the hitherto neglected quarters of north and east Calcutta, anchoring the Diamond City North mall on Jessore Road and Orchid in Kankurgachhi.

?We will introduce our lifestyle electronics format E-Zone and our lifestyle furniture chain Collection I in Calcutta next year. The two would be housed next to each other and the city will have two such ?tandems?, one on the EM Bypass and the other in south Calcutta,? Biyani told Metro during a recent recce.

E-Zone will have three sections ? Personal (dealing in mobile phones, iPods, etc), Home (hawking domestic white goods), and Experience (objects of desire like plasma screens and home theatres), besides the latest upgrades in consumer electronics.

?We will also launch our complete home solutions store Home Town in Rajarhat in 2007,? Biyani added. The format now exists in Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalore and Thane.

The 125,000 sq ft outlet in New Town will be a one-stop address for home needs, from indulgence products to plain Jane plumbers and carpenters, pest-control to plywood.

Pantaloon Retail is also planning a chain of family entertainment centres in town called F123, catering to corporate bashes as well as birthday parties, besides offering a host of gaming options.

Alongside the fresh formats, the group is keen to grow its Big Bazaar brand aggressively. ?A hypermarket works on a greed-and-fear factor ? greed sparked by the low prices and fear that it won?t remain so cheap tomorrow. In Calcutta, we plan to have nine Big Bazaars soon,? the retail czar announced.

The 200,000 sq ft Jessore Road mall, to come up in the next 18-24 months, will be run and managed by Pantaloon Retail, with an 80,000 sq ft Big Bazaar at the heart of it.

?Our endeavour is to bring the mall experience to the middle and low-income segments, as 70 per cent of their shopping needs will be satisfied at Diamond City North,? Biyani said. While Kankurgachhi will have a combination of Pantaloons and Big Bazaar across 80,000 sq ft, properties for other Big Bazaar outlets have been signed in Behala and Gariahat, besides Foreshore Road in Howrah.

The company, targeting Rs 400 crore sales this year in the east, hopes to be the ?first Indian retail chain to touch Rs 1,000 crore yearly sales in 2008, and Calcutta will contribute a significant chunk, as always?, declared Biyani.

Pantaloon Retail will even launch its first David Rockwell signature design project, the Central eat-shop-celebrate format, in Calcutta, in the next 18 months. ?The unique storytelling style of Rockwell will create a series of retail activators for the first time in the country,? promised Biyani.