Hanung Retail, India's largest manufacturer of soft toys, has notified that it would open 50 home furnishing and soft toys stores by the end of this fiscal.

The company plans to open 30 stores under Play-n-Pets brand and 20 Splash stores for home furnishing with an investment of Rs 4.5 crore, by 2008-09.

Initially, Hanung has plans to cover north India during expansion phase with its new stores. The company would open its proposed stores in Uttaranchal, Allahabad, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Mohali and Amritsar and some other parts of the country. The capital expense for opening store is estimated at Rs 9 lakh per store.

Presently, Hanung, retail arm of Hanung Toys & Textiles has four Splash and three Play-n-Pets stores, mainly located in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Jammu and Dehradun.
Apart from this, the company is also looking at the possibility of having an in-house packaging division for its home furnishing products.

A company official stated that presently, Hanung Retail is getting its products packed from outside, which adds to extra cost for the company. The company is thinking to have its own packaging division to reduce cost.