MORE AND more transporters are busy redesigning their godowns into warehouses these days to make the best of big retailers entering the city with heavy product lines.
The big retailing houses need space to safely store their diverse retail range at any cost.
And this has triggered a sort of competition among transporters and traders to give their godowns a warehouse look to earn profit.
The exercise has already begun in Aminabad, Alambagh Charbagh, Naka Hindola and Sarojini Nagar.
This, market sources, feel is sign of the city taking a metro turn.
However, managers of large logistics firms say that godown space in the city is largely insufficient to stock inventory of large retailers as they are not being designed as per international specifications which takes into account not just space but also the humidity factor in localities where inventory stored for long can develop problems.
Quite a few grocery retailers also hire idle capacities of small cold storages where inventory is stored for months before it is taken out for sale.
Most transport godowns are not located beside roads but in the interiors of commercial hubs of residential colonies where general civic infrastructure is already crumbling, informed a senior manager of a large logistics firm who declined to be quoted.
{{/usCountry}}Most transport godowns are not located beside roads but in the interiors of commercial hubs of residential colonies where general civic infrastructure is already crumbling, informed a senior manager of a large logistics firm who declined to be quoted.
{{/usCountry}}Large retail firms try as far as possible to stock inventory in mall spaces but that is never sufficient to accommodate the continuous flow of inventory every week arriving from all parts of the country.
As a result, many retailers have now started hiring godowns which are in the vicinity of malls to stock fresh arrivals.
How about the rentals?
The average rent for a 11,000 sq ft godown space is ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 a month taking into account the locational factors which allow smaller load carrier to pick up inventory easily from commercial hubs and residential colonies, he added.