Giordano launched its India retail operations with the opening of its first store in the Southern metropolitan city of Chennai. The store is located in the recently opened Chennai City Centre, and had its soft opening this past weekend.

“Most Indian customers are aware of Giordano because of the company’s strong presence in the nearby GCC, Australian and Asian markets and we have received a lot of enquiries about when we will launch in India. We have been working on the launch for a long time but we decided to wait until we have the right location. I think we made the right choice in opening in Chennai City Centre and sales have been strong over the weekend” said Ishwar Chugani, Director, Giordano Fashions India Private Ltd. Chennai based Giordano Fashions India is the country’s exclusive distributor for the brand. “We have already confirmed additional store sites in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai and will continue to look for suitable locations to open more Giordano stores” Mr Chugani continued.

“India is now the focus of every international retail chain because of the enormous size of its market and its accelerating economic growth. Initially, we will concentrate our efforts on South India, the retail hub of the country, and then move on to other regions in a phased manner,” commented Mr Peter Lau, Chairman and Chief Executive of Giordano International Limited, who was in India to launch the operations. “We are very bullish on India and expect to open around 20 stores in the country by 2008” said Mr Lau.

“Giordano’s worldwide success is driven by its core values of Quality, Knowledge, Innovation, Service and Simplicity and we will follow the same policies here in India to ensure the same high level of quality and service that customers have come to expect from Giordano” commented Mr Chugani.

“We are a totally customer driven company with a very simple mission - to make people feel good and look great. We also take the lead in adopting the latest in technology to manage our distribution system so as to ensure that we repond to our customers’ every need efficiently, effectively and promptly wherever we are in the world” Mr Lau added.

Giordano International Limited is a leading international retailer of men’s, women’s and children’s apparel under the brand names “Giordano”, “Giordano Ladies”, “Giordano Junior” and “Bluestar”. Established in 1981, Giordano International now operates 1,700 stores and counters in Greater China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia and the Middle East.