According to Mr IS Narula, president of Arcus, the company would initially concentrate on the metros-two each in Delhi and Mumbai, one each in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Calcutta-followed by other cities in the country. The average size of each of these stores would be around 50,000 sq ft.

The first store of the company will open shortly in Delhi (Gurgaon), followed by one in Mumbai. It is now scouting for a second location in these cities. The first ten stores would be company-owned and it would go for franchise agreements only after that, Mr Narula added.

The company has already received its first round of funding-Rs 12 crore- from private investors belonging to the Turner Morrison Group. For the remaining cash requirement, it is talking to venture capital and strategic investors. It is also talking to home-finance companies HSBC and HDFC to set up shop in the store. This will enable the store to make home- building and improvement loan sanction services available at the same place, apart from providing an ATM and card facility, according to Mr Narula.

For bulk building materials like cement etc, the stores will have a shop-in-shop or booking counters for various companies. Apart from basic construction products and services, the stores will also have sanitaryware, interior designing services etc-just about everything one needs to build a home-under one roof at competitive prices.

The company will start e-commerce on its site Arcusltd.com from March next year, according to Mr Narula.

Apart from media advertisement campaigns and promotions, the company plans to have weekly in-store events like product launches, training programmes and DIY (do-it-yourself) camps for school children. While the training programmes could be on topics like `How to light-up a room?', `How to lay a tile etc?', the DIY camps could teach children things like to how to hammer a nail/hang a picture etc.