Do Bhai from Panipat

From a ‘garments & general' store to a one-stop fashion and lifestyle shop, in a town more known for its historical battles than style, it has been lessons learnt in the art of retailing for a little less than four decades. The battle to secure a sizeable wallet share of the consumer is still on, discovers Vishnu Rageev R.

April 1969 – brands in our country were all not quite understood. The simple darji, or tailor, or today's much vaunted bespoke services was all that fashion allowed. Of course, bespoke was also not a term that had entered the vocabulary of the average citizen. In Panipat, a small town in Haryana, some 90 kilometres away from the national capital Delhi, renowned more for its historical battles than style, a readymade garment store, all of 500 square feet in size, came up catering to the fashion needs of the people. Prakash Garments & General Store, better known in the town as Do Bhai, today occupies 10,000 square feet, emerging as a one-stop fashion and lifestyle shop. “Those were the days when people were interested in buying fabrics and getting it stitched according to their tastes. It was a Herculean task for us to change this mindset, but once we made this happen, success came our way,” Ved Prakash Makkar, MD, Do Bhai, recalls.

The company has seen 10-12 per cent growth in the last two years. The figures are expected to rise as it recently opened EBOs for five major brands – Colorplus, Pepe Jeans, Black, Tycoon and Dennis Parkar.

Brand sell
The readymade garment store retailed all the major brands of that era – Double Bull, Klick, Lee, Silkina, Zapata, Yorks and Charlie. Now, its racks include the likes of Allen Solly, Pepe, Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Lino Perros, Levi's, Tycoon, Gesture, Rivolta, Madame, Creative Line, Monte Carlo, Guilty, Catmoss, Ruff, Gini & Jony, Ethniks, Jockey, Lovable, Carbon, Fastrack, Hugo Boss, Davidoff, Eternity, Swatch, Esprit... offering an international lifestyle shopping experience for the entire family.

“People now are more brand-conscious. It was in 2000-01 that people started spending more on fashion. Even before entering the shop, they know which brand to go for. In my shop there are some premium brands that sell very well,” Makkar observes.

Targeting largely the average college-goer, Do Bhai realised that the fate of any small-town retailing depends on the efforts to attract and retain the interest of the youth. The stocks are replenished daily, which in turn drives in the target customers to the shop.

Out of the total retail space, 35 per cent shelf space is dedicated for women's and children's merchandise, while men and teenagers get 20 and 10 per cent, respectively. The percentage of turnover from the sale of men's merchandise constitutes the highest with 35 per cent, while that from women, children and teenagers stands at 25, 20 and 20 per cent, respectively.