Srinagar, Apr 21: M/s S. Shafco at Residency Road here has become the first exclusive The Raymond Shop in the Valley. It was inaugurated on Wednesday.
 “Earlier ours was a multi-brand outlet, but now we have become the exclusive Raymond Shop,” Irfan Ahmad Sheikh, managing director The Raymond Shop, told Greater Kashmir.
 “Till now the Raymond— world’s largest producer of high-quality suiting fabrics—was not agreeing to having an exclusive shop in Kashmir. But since our terms remained good with them, they have allowed us to be the exclusive Raymond Shop,” he said, adding that “this is the first exclusive Raymond Shop in the Valley.”
 The two-storied showroom situated in the Haza Complex is a premium retail store offering a complete wardrobe for men. The Raymond Shop offers a wide range of fine fabrics for suits, jackets, trousers, shirts and garments, contemporary range of ready-mades and stylish casual wear from different brands of Raymond.
 “The showroom also offers special products of the company that local dealers do not have. These products are meant for only company showrooms,” said Sheikh.
 The product range of Raymond available at the showroom includes Raymond Fabric, Raymond Suits and Shirts, Park Avenue, ColorPlus and Parx. Park Avenue is the single largest ready to wear brand in the country.
 “The company has recently launched a new brand by the name of Raymond itself for readymade garments that include premium suits and shirts,” said Sheikh.
 For future, he said, they were planning to introduce Zapp—Raymond’s brand for kid’s product—in the showroom.
 He said Raymond has got separate collections for different age groups, including for teenagers, young adults, adults, elderly people and so on. “This is an exclusive showroom for menswear. Here customers can find merchandise for all the occasions, be it then for office, party, travel or just casual wear. They can’t find as many varieties for menswear at other shops,” he said.
 Sheikh said The Raymond Shop offers over 3000 qualities, shades and designs of Raymond fabric to its customers. The showroom also offers quality custom tailoring services, thus making it a complete garments shop.
 At Raymond Shop, he said, they shall be having online billing of the company “that would help customers a great deal.” The managing director said there shall be special inauguration offers for the customers for one week at the showroom.
 “The Raymond Shop has always worked towards building excellent customer experience and has been customer oriented right from the very beginning,” he said.
 To mention, The Raymond Shop has been the pioneer in the organized retailing in India. The Raymond Shop network started with a small corner shop in Ballard Estate, Mumbai, around five decades ago. Since then it has grown manifold, making it the largest retail store in the country having more than 500 stores in prime locations in over 200 cities in India. The company also extended their network overseas having around 39 shops in 15 plus cities of Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.
  “Behind the success of The Raymond Shop are its prime five values, viz. trust, excellence, quality, leadership and service,” said Sheikh.
 The showroom has skilled and well-qualified staff, who are being trained from the NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology), New Delhi. “We have got six staff members, three for garments and three for fabrics,” said Sheikh.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:00:00 IST