Weekly News Wrap: Silver Lake to invest $1b in Indian retail firm; Restos unveil new store designs inspired from the pandemic

And some retailers still plan to open more stores in 2020.

From Reuters:

Reliance Industries said on Wednesday that U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake Partners will invest $1.02b in its retail business, helping the Mukesh Ambani-controlled company widen its lead as India’s biggest retailer.

The move also sets the stage for a three-way battle between Asia’s richest man, Jeff Bezos’ Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Flipkart to rope in the Indian middle class customer, many of whom are newly adopting online purchases of food and groceries due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May, Reliance launched online grocery service JioMart. It has been aggressively building its retail presence through acquisitions, moving beyond its mainstay oil and gas business.
Silver Lake will get a 1.75% stake in Reliance Retail, giving the business a pre-money equity value of 4.21 trillion rupees ($57.14b), Reliance said.

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From CNBC:

The coronavirus pandemic is spurring on a growing number of restaurant chains to build restaurants with new bells and whistles focused on convenience and safety.

Some restaurant companies are accelerating plans to update their store formats with a focus on convenience. Starbucks, for example, is going to build more mobile pickup cafes this year and in 2021 than it previously thought.

Others are taking a more drastic step and introducing entirely new designs based on how customers ordered and picked up their food during the pandemic.

Taco Bell, for example, has unveiled a design that features a dual drive-thru lane and parking spots designated for contactless curbside pick-up.

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From CNBC:

The coronavirus pandemic has upended the retail industry and pushed dozens of companies into bankruptcy. However, there are a number of retailers still looking to open additional stores.

Altogether, as of 4 September, retailers have announced 7,707 store closures and 3,344 store openings so far this year, according to a tracking by Coresight Research.

Whilst much of the turmoil in the industry has stemmed from apparel chains and department store operators, the expansion finds itself in a number of other categories: beauty, home goods, discount and grocery chains.

Read more here.