RPG's Books and Beyond

The RPG Group is bullish about the prospects of its retail venture Books and Beyond. The chain, which just launched its first full-format flagship Books and Beyond outlet at the Rashbehari Avenue Spencer’s large-format store, plans to roll out another 10-12 stores over the next six-eight months.RPG Retail president and CEO Sumantra Banerjee told ET: “We hope to grow Books and Beyond into a Rs 150-200 crore business over the next 18-24 months. We are also looking at morphing its existing format.” At present, Books and Beyond offers a range of books, as well as Chad Valley toys, gifts and stationery. The stores also have a section for music and home videos from Music World.The Music World format, was in fact, grown and Books and Beyond became about books and music. The offerings were later expanded to include toys and stationery. “We are now trying to explore what can be done with the ‘Beyond’ segment, and see what else we can offer by way of relevant merchandise. However, unless we go in for something radically different, we will have any rebranding exercise,” said Mr Banerjee.Books and Beyond is looking at places like Hyderabad, Chennai, Chandigarh, among others, to set up its upcoming stores. Currently, the chain has three outlets, the first, launched in Gurgaon’s Megacity Mall in 2007, and another two in Kolkata, at the South City Mall and Rashbehari Avenue Spencer’s, respectively.