BHOPAL: The MP Handlooms and Handicrafts Corporation plans to set up Mrignayanee stores in three places in the state in addition to Nagpur, Lucknow, Agra and Varanasi.
An Mrignayanee Emporium will be inaugurated at Nagpur on the Republic Day. The Corporation has planned to open new emporiums in Lucknow, Agra, Prayagraj and Varanasi by Diwali. Mrignayanee stores will also come up at Bandhavgarh, Panna and Kanha national parks soon.
Currently, there are a total of 37 Mrignayanee stores in the country including in all metros and other major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad. Rajeev Sharma, Managing Director of the Corporation told Free Press that the corporation had added 15 new stores over the past one and half years.
About the response to the emporia outside the state, Sharma said that it was quite encouraging before the Corona pandemic. "The stores at Ekta Mall in Kevadia (Gujarat), the site of the Statue of Unity, were shut for more than five months due to the pandemic. And that included our store. Similarly, we have started a store at the Mantralaya in Bhopal but the response is not as per our expectations as the entry of outsider is banned. Once the situation eases, sales would pick up," he said.
"We are already on Amazon and recently we have entered into an agreement with the e-commerce platform Flipkart for selling our products," the managing director said.
Sharma said that they had tied up with e-commerce companies as online is the business platform of the future. He, however, said that offline stores were also needed as customers were not satisfied with only seeing clothes, they also want to touch and feel them, which was not possible online. "So we want to have a presence in both online as well as physical stores," he said.
The Corporation has also planned to hold handicrafts expos at Gwalior and Indore, along the lines of the one held at Bhopal recently. Another expo, 'Adhbhut Abhushan', will begin at the Gauhar Mahal in the city from January 7.
The MP Handlooms and Handicrafts Corporation will launch Khajuraho and Sanchi series under its heritage collection soon. The motifs of Khajuraho temples and Sanchi Stupas will be printed on Angochhas and saris. Last year, the Corporation had launched a collection of garments printed with replicas of the rock paintings of Bhimbetka.
