• Future Group launches Ahmedabad Central, the premier destination to Shop, Eat and Celebrate in the heart of the city
• Ahmedabad Central to house Food Bazaar, Planet M, Salon @ Central, Café Coffee Day, Reliance Time Out, Ethnicity and Planet Sports
• Free makeovers, Free Wi Fi service, Live DJ at Central

Ahmedabad, Nov 13, 2009:  Future Group, India's leading business house with strong presence in the retail sector, today announced the launch Ahmedabad Central, the seamless mall to redefine and revolutionize the shopping experience for all Amdavadis.   Located at Panchvati, C.G. Road, Ahmedabad Central sprawls over 1,30,000 square feet. With over 500 national and international brands to choose from, across categories including menswear, womens wear, youthwear, ethnicwear, sportswear, kidswear, eye wear, watches, footwear, cosmetics & fragrances, jewellery, hand bags and much more, Ahmedabad Central guarantees to offer an unparalleled shopping experience.

“Ahmedabad shoppers will be treated to a whole new world of shopping as our seamless mall concept allows customers to experience brands up close and personal. The open, seamless layout of the mall allows for easy access to products and a good opportunity to quickly compare between brands”, said Vishnu Prasad, CEO, Central and Brand Factory.

Ahmedabad Central will redefine and revolutionize the retail experience in Ahmedabad with an amazing array of shopping activities under one roof for the entire family. Some of the nation’s most popular retail outlets are present within Central including Food Bazaar, Planet M, Salon @ Central, Café Coffee Day and Reliance Time Out.  Shoppers can also look forward to spending time at Ethnicity, which houses the largest ethnic wear section for the entire family and Planet Sports, which houses the best brands in sportswear and sports accessories.

A scrumptious, delectable spread at Ahmedabad Central
Ahmedabad Central offers a complete experience for the family with lots of quick bite options for visitors. Ahmedabad Central offers an unbelievable spread of food and drinks at the Food Court including Indian cuisine, chaat, sandwiches, Chinese cuisine and other snacks. Other choices include coffee and dessert at Café Coffee Day.

“With the success of the Central format in other cities, we decided to bring the ‘Shop, Eat and Celebrate’ experience to Ahmedabad. There are many reasons to come to Central for the entire family. We also have an active events calendar, which will feature various live events, competition and special sales throughout the year,” said Rajesh Seth, VP, Marketing, Central and Brand Factory.

Free makeovers, Free Wi Fi service, Live DJ at Central
Central shoppers can also enjoy special service offerings at the Central hotspots such as Beauty Central, whichprovides customers valuable beauty tips and also give them make- overs; at DJ Central, customers can make song requests to the DJ and listen to their favourite music while shopping; and Gift Central provides attractive gift wrappers to the customers. Other value added services include free Wi-Fi service at Wi-Fi Central and Flower Central. 

About Future Group
Future Group, led by its founder and Group CEO, Mr. Kishore Biyani, is one of India’s leading business houses with multiple businesses spanning across the consumption space. While retail forms the core business activity of Future Group, group subsidiaries are present in consumer finance, capital, insurance, leisure and entertainment, brand development, retail real estate development, retail media and logistics.

Led by its flagship enterprise, Pantaloon Retail, the group operates over 12 million square feet of retail space in 71 cities and towns and 65 rural locations across India. Headquartered in Mumbai (Bombay), Pantaloon Retail employs around 30,000 people and is listed on the Indian stock exchanges. The company follows a multi-format retail strategy that captures almost the entire consumption basket of Indian customers. In the lifestyle segment, the group operates Pantaloons, a fashion retail chain and Central, a chain of seamless malls. In the value segment, its marquee brand, Big Bazaar is a hypermarket format that combines the look, touch and feel of Indian bazaars with the choice and convenience of modern retail.

In 2008, Big Bazaar opened its 100th store, marking the fastest ever organic expansion of a hypermarket. The first set of Big Bazaar stores opened in 2001 in Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

The group’s speciality retail formats include, books and music chain, Depot, sportswear retailer, Planet Sports, electronics retailer, eZone, home improvement chain, Home Town and rural retail chain, Aadhar, among others. It also operates popular shopping portal, futurebazaar.com.

Future Capital Holdings, the group’s financial arm provides investment advisory to assets worth over $1 billion that are being invested in consumer brands and companies, real estate, hotels and logistics. It also operates a consumer finance arm with branches in 150 locations.

Other group companies include, Future Generali, the group’s insurance venture in partnership with Italy’s Generali Group, Future Brands, a brand development and IPR company, Future Logistics, providing logistics and distribution solutions to group companies and business partners and Future Media, a retail media initiative.

The group’s presence in Leisure & Entertainment segment is led through, Mumbai-based listed company Galaxy Entertainment Limited. Galaxy leading leisure chains, Sports Bar and Bowling Co. and family entertainment centres, F123. Through its partner company, Blue Foods the group operates around 100 restaurants and food courts through brands like Bombay Blues, Spaghetti Kitchen, Noodle Bar, The Spoon, Copper Chimney and Gelato. Future Group’s joint venture partners include, US-based stationery products retailer, Staples and Middle East-based Axiom Communications.

The group’s flagship company, Pantaloon Retail was awarded the International Retailer of the Year 2007, by the US-based National Retail Federation, the largest retail trade association and the Emerging Market Retailer of the Year 2007 at the World Retail Congress in Barcelona.

Future Group believes in developing strong insights on Indian consumers and building businesses based on Indian ideas, as espoused in the group’s core value of ‘Indianness.’ The group’s corporate credo is, ‘Rewrite rules, Retain values.’

For further information please contact
Mr. Atul Takle
Head - Corporate Communications
Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited
Email: mediarelations@futuregroup.in
Website: www.pantaloonretail.in