According to SCT Newswire, NRDC Equity Partners paid a total of about $1.1 billion to obtain total control over Canadian retail conglomerate Hudson’s Bay.

NRDC had owned a 20 percent stake in the Toronto-based company for years.

Hudson’s Bay operates 94 The Bay department stores, 280 Zellers discount stores, 61 Home Outfitters stores and 161 Fields stores.

SCT Newswire reports that NRDC plans to use existing Hudson’s Bay real estate to secure store sites for Lord and Taylor in Canada. The company also plans to open small Fortunoff and Lord and Taylor stores inside some existing The Bay department stores.

According to SCT Newswire, Richard Baker, president and CEO of NRDC and chairman of Lord and Taylor (who will also assume the title of CEO for Hudson’s Bay), said some of The Bay’s flagship stores, like the 900,000-square-foot Toronto store and the 650,000-square-foot store in Vancouver, B.C., can accommodate a 200,000-square-foot Lord and Taylor store.

“We will have an unprecedented opportunity to re-create the retail landscape in North America,” he said. “The combined companies own a portfolio of trophy real estate assets that create a spectacular opportunity for development around the existing retail operation.”

Baker said up to 15 Lord and Taylor locations could open in Canada. NRDC aims to position Lord and Taylor as the Nordstrom of Canada, a mid-level department store between the country’s high-end Holt Renfrew chain and The Bay chain.

“The company, which currently has 620 stores across the country, is going for a substantial increase in its distribution, which will see its sales going up by 30 per cent per annum,” Reebok India Managing Director Suvhinder Singh told PTI.

“Besides consolidating our existing position in metros and tier I cities, we are also going for a major expansion in tier-II and tier-III and lower-tier cities”, he added.

However, he refused to divulge any investment details. “It is not the company’s policy to reveal investment and sales figures,” he said on the sidelines of the Pure & Play Retail Summit here on Monday.

The company has grown six-time in the last five years and controls 53 per cent of Indian footwear market, Singh said, adding that they would be also bringing in new products.

“We want to maintain the current position and bring new innovation and formats in various segments. We are bringing out 20 new footwear models every quarter, besides a new apparel in every 45 days,” he said.

Reebok is also planning to open specialised junior stores for its young customers. As many as seven such stores will come up in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi among other cities.

The company would be aggressive on its marketing strategy as it plans to expand its business in the country.

“As part of our marketing strategy we have roped in Bollywood stars and cricketers as means of communication platform as Indian customers have a tendency to associate with them,” he said, adding that the company wants to utilise this for expanding into smaller cities.

“Indian organised retail is growing at a very impressive pace and we really want to tap this growth. We have decided to invest up to Rs 200 crore in the next five years in setting up 450 exclusive stores in 100 cities across the country,” Triumph International (India) General Manager and Country Head Thorsten Allenstein told PTI.

Of the 450 stores, 10 would be flagship stores while the remaining 440 would be set up through the franchisee route.

“Our flagship stores will have an entire range of our collection, while the normal outlets will showcase only select items,” Allenstein said.

The company has committed to investing $55 million in the country by 2009, of which $30 million have already been invested in setting up a large manufacturing facility in Chennai.

The facility, which currently employs 1,300 people, would employ more than 5,000 people when fully operational.

“Initially, the facility would be used for export and later it would be dedicated only to cater to the Indian market,” he said.

“We will invest $25 million (nearly Rs 100 crore) in setting up 100 exclusive stores by the end of next year,” Allenstein said.

Triumph is also in the process of finalising a deal for a joint venture for its retail business and is expected to announce the deal by the end of this week.

The prices of rice, cooking oil, candy, wine, food, festival gifts and other commodities, will be slashed by 20 to 30 percent, said Li Jia, media relations manager for Carrefour’s South China division.

The promotion, said to be the largest since Carrefour entered the Chinese market in 1995, would be initially launched at 23 Carrefour outlets in southern China regions, Li said.

“Carrefour is taking this move to answer the call of the central government to stimulate consumption and expand domestic demand,” Li said.

“The company also hopes to help consumers spend less against the backdrop of economic downturn.”

Earlier this month, U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart started offering discounts of up to 20 percent on an average of 1,000 items at its 119 stores in China.

Analysts forecast retailing industry would experience a low season between February and April next year as the global financial crisis worsens.

“Retailers all hope to seize the market ahead of others through lowering prices,” said Sun Xiong, chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Chain Store and Franchise Association.

The Lunar Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, will fall on Jan. 26. It is usually a gold season for shopping before and after the festival, the most important occasion in the Chinese year.

Also Thursday, U.S. fast-food giant KFC began reducing its prices by up to 20 percent at almost 1,400 outlets in China. The promotion will last until Feb. 3. The company said it is reducing prices to boost domestic demand amid the financial crisis.

Earlier this month, McDonald’s also started offering discounts of up to 30 percent at its outlets in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Nanjing. It said it would consider expanding the promotion to more cities if market feedback proves good.

McDonald’s India is a 50:50 joint venture between McDonald’s and Hardcastle Restaurants for west and south India. For east and north India, the food retailer has a tie up with Vikram Bakshi’s Cannaught Plaza Restaurants. McDonald’s refrained from hiking prices despite rising pressure on input costs last year. “Currently, we do not see any reason for raising prices of our food items as the commodity prices, especially edible oil prices, have eased and our back-end supply-chain is strong enough,” Mr Jatia added. The largest fast-food retail network will invest around Rs 120 crore, excluding real estate, for its expansion. The food retailer offers services to 180 million customers every year from its 155 outlets and expects to manage the customer growth rate of 30-40% on y-o-y basis. Further, it has tied up with BPCL and HPCL to open restaurants at their upcoming motels on express highways.

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Several years ago, the Hutchison Whampoa subsidiary announced plans to open 1,000 stores in mainland China. Nothhaft said the although the current economic situation is not optimistic, the company has never given up its goal of opening 1,000 outlets in mainland China. According to its budget for 2009, Watsons will open 120 new stores with its focus on six cities in north China and west China.

Though affected by various negative factors, Watsons still opened 86 new stores in 2008.

The latest statistics from the retailer show that Watsons has developed more than 1,500 own brand products, accounting for over one-third of the products sold in its stores. In addition, the prices of its own brand products are 20% to 30% lower than the similar products in other supermarkets. Nothhaft revealed that the company will develop another 240 kinds of own brand products in 2009.

“There’s still a lot of stress,” Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke said on a taped interview on NBC’s “Today Show.”

“It’s not a ‘V’ recession, where we’re just going to bounce out and come back,” he said.

Duke’s comments aired a day after a government report showed that sales at U.S. retailers unexpectedly fell 1.1 percent in March and after Wal-Mart last week reported a lower-than-expected rise in March sales at U.S. stores open at least a year.

Also on Wednesday, Burger King Holdings Inc (BKC.N) said it faced an “unanticipated traffic slowdown” in March across most company-owned hamburger restaurants, while the government said U.S. consumer prices fell unexpectedly last month, recording their first annual drop since 1955, as slumping demand pushed down energy and food costs.

The reports have dimmed hopes that the U.S. recession is close to hitting bottom, and show consumers are keeping a tight grip on their wallets. In early trading, Wal-Mart shares gained 10 cents to $51.22.

Duke said that by the end of the month, just before traditional paydays, customers are left with only a few dollars to spend.

He said the downturn will lead to a “sustained change” in the way that families live. But he added that customers are buying electronics, like flat screen TVs or video game systems, as they cut back on entertainment outside of the home or scrap vacation plans.

Separately, Wal-Mart’s China unit said it will eliminate one management layer of its stores in China to improve efficiency, affecting up to 1,400 people.

The retailer, which has 147 outlets in China and employs more than 50,000, will offer affected employees the option to move to new stores or take other positions with lower salaries.

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