Spencer’s taps affluent India with Artisan Pantry
Godrej Industries Ltd for ₹300 crore. Currently, Nature’s Basket operates 32 stores as an upmarket food retailer. In contrast, Artisan Pantry will be more luxe, offering imported wines, a diverse range of cheese, a dedicated section for artisan chocolates, honey, gourmet fruits, and vegetables such as Yuzu Lemon, multicolored corn, Japanese Apple Fuji, and more.
Besides, the stores will feature a restaurant and live kitchens. “Traditionally, when you look at Nature’s Basket, it’s essentially in the space of gourmet retailing. What we’re doing with the new Nature’s Basket Artisan Pantry concept, is redefining it, and we’re completely converting it to luxury.
The format is going to be very heavy on experiences," Shashwat Goenka, chairman, Spencer’s Retail. said at a virtual media roundtable on Thursday. Three Artisan Pantry stores will open in Mumbai and Kolkata by 31 March, and another three to five stores in FY25.
The first store in Mumbai’s Palladium Mall spanning 12,500 sq. ft will open this weekend; an average Nature’s Basket store is about 2,500 sq. ft.
Per-store investment will be in the range of ₹35 crore, but Goenka said they will “give us a lot more revenue per store." The concept of upmarket grocery stores is popular in the West with formats such as Harrods Food Hall and even M&S Foods, in India it is restricted to the country’s top metros. That’s because India is still a value market. Chains such as NCR-based Modern Bazaar and the now-shuttered Food Hall have tried to feed this demand for expensive fresh and packaged foods in pockets of Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, etc.
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