Consumer goods firm, Dabur India Ltd will start adopting the franchise route for its retail stores “Newu” and explore smaller format stores in order to expedite expansion. The company’s subsidiary, H&B Stores Ltd that currently operates 22 “Newu” stores primarily in North
India, is also looking to open up to 150 new stores in 2011-12. It is also trying express or smaller formats that have quick turnaround time, besides focusing on “beauty” as a category, as it looks to break even in the next two years. H&B Stores that started operations in 2008 suffered during the downturn forcing it to go slow on the expansion and even closing down some stores.