Footwear major Metro set to open 20 new stores in South

Alisha Malik, Vice President, E- Commerce and Marketing, Metro Shoes Ltd, tells us about the genesis of the brand. She says, “DaVinchi was our inhouse menswear brand. When Metro Shoes first started, we were quite dependent on brands likes Florsheim and Bally, the only international labels that we had brought into India to service the premium men’s category. These were brands where we had no control over the sourcing and it was beginning to become a liability. So, then we decided it was time to create our own premium menswear line, which gave birth to DaVinchi about 20 years ago. Today, DaVinchi’s raw materials are sourced from premium factories in Brazil and Turkey. We have managed to find the best leather from across the world and the factories best suited to making them. We have been wanting to open a standalone store for more a year now and Chennai is one of our strongest markets. DaVinchi as a brand is present across all Metro stores in India.” 

She adds, “Last year, we started DaVinchi’s womenswear collection as well, to offer women range of premium footwear. We have a factory in Chennai, where we manufacture an open range of footwear. Close to 75 per cent of DaVinchi’s merchandise caters to men (of which 50 per cent is footwear and 25 per cent is men’s premium leather accessories like wallets, duffel bags, belts, sunglasses case, business card holders). The remaining 25 per cent caters to women.” 

Talking about the investment plans in the region, she says, “The investment that has gone into the new store is about Rs 1 cr. We have invested close to Rs 20 cr on the Metro brand in Chennai. We are actively expanding in the South. We recently opened a Metro store in the city. The company has 3 selfowned brand stores – Metro, Mochi, Walkway and it also manages Crocs brand stores. In Chennai, we have as many as 22 stores catering to the Metro and Mochi brands. Last year, we opened 7 stores In Tamil Nadu, and 24 stores across the South region. We plan to open around 60 stores in the coming year across our three formats across India, and close to 20 stores in the south.”