Trent Limited (

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of Tata Retail Enterprise) is an Indian

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

company, which is part of the Tata Group and based in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. Started in 1998, Trent owns and operates fashion and lifestyle retail formats such as Westside, Zudio and Utsa. The company also runs retail chains like Star Bazaar and Zara through joint ventures.

History

In 1998, the Tatas sold off their 50% stake in Lakmé Cosmetics to Hindustan Lever for , and created Trent with the proceeds from the sale. Simone Tata, the chairperson of Lakmé, went on to head Trent. The company began operations in 1998, after acquiring the only store of

Littlewoods Littlewoods was a retail and football betting company founded in Liverpool, England, by John Moores in 1923. By the 1980s, it had grown to become the largest private company in Europe but subsequently declined in the face of increased compe ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

and renaming the store "Westside". Trent operated only Westside stores until 2004, when it opened its first Star Bazaar hypermarket in Ahmedabad. In 2005, Trent acquired a 76% controlling stake in Landmark Bookstores, a

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

-based privately owned books and music retailer, and completed 100% acquisition in April 2008. In 2007, Trent entered a franchisee agreement with Benetton Group to set up Sisley stores in India. In 2008, Trent launched value fashion stores called Fashion Yatra. However, by 2012, the company shut down all Fashion Yatra stores and later terminated its Sisley agreement in an effort to shelve loss-making ventures. In 2009, Trent and Inditex established a 49:51

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

to run Zara stores in India. Two years later, the two companies entered a similar agreement to open Massimo Dutti stores in India. In 2014,

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

acquired a 50% stake in Star Bazaar for £85 million and became a joint venture partner. After the establishment of the joint venture, Star Bazaar started

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

format Star Market and small convenience store format Star Daily, but discontinued the latter by early 2018 when it began its online grocery service called StarQuik. In 2015, Trent entered into a partnership with Sonae to open and operate Sport Zone outlets in India, but the venture was later dissolved. In 2016, Trent opened its first Zudio store in

. Over the subsequent years, the number of Zudio stores grew at a faster rate than Trent's flagship format Westside, driven by high turnover of Zudio's relatively inexpensive fast fashion clothing. In 2019, Trent acquired a 51% stake in Booker India for . After the outbreak of COVID-19, Trent repositioned Landmark Bookstores as a beauty and accessories retailer called Misbu. In 2023, the company started occasionwear chain, Samoh. In 2024, the company began operating internationally with the opening of a Zudio store in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

Retail formats

Retail formats of Trent include: File:Westside Store - Mani Square Mall - Kolkata 20180223154855.jpg, Inside a Westside outlet in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. File:Hyderabad at night in 2024 01.jpg, A typical neighbourhood Zudio store,

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

. File:Phoenix Marketcity (Mumbai) - Zara.jpg, Zara store in

References

External links

* {{Nifty 200 companies Trent Limited Retail companies of India Companies based in Mumbai Clothing brands of India Retail companies established in 1998 Indian companies established in 1998 1998 establishments in Maharashtra Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India NIFTY 50