Kolkata, Jan 11 (IANS) Footwear major Bata India Wednesday said it was completely switching on to large format stores for the purpose of economic viability.

It added that it would shut down 100 small stores of 500-1,000 square feet across the country and open large format stores of 3,000-4,000 square feet in the next four to five years.

“Small stores are no more viable in the sense that you cannot display your collection. You have almost 3,000 designs of footwear. Where do you display 3,000 lines in a smaller store of 5,000 or 1,000 square feet?” Bata India managing director Rajeev Gopalakrishnan said.

“It is not a question of shutting down, it is a question of relocating or closing one and opening a bigger store of 3,000 square feet at the same market, so we get more customers, more employment and better money for the people also,” he added.

“Last year, we closed almost 83 small stores and relocated into bigger format. And going forward, we must be having another 100 odd stores,” he said.

Gopalakrishnan said every year 20 to 30 small stores will be closed and converted into a bigger format.

The company will launch its largest store of 20,000 square foot in Mumbai. It has also planned to launch 120 retail stores and 30 concept stores of the brand ‘Hush Puppies’ in 2012.