With a strong legacy of 150 years in the retail jewellery sector, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ) took a new direction, as it signed its first Franchise Agreement for a TBZ-The Original store in Dhanbad, Jharkhand. The store is expected to open next month, reports say.

The franchisee store format supports the company’s retail expansion plans and vision to increase its retail space from current 93.000 sq ft to around 1.50,000 sq ft in the next two to three years, as per reports. The expansion would involve both company-owned and franchisee stores.

Each such store opened under Franchise Agreement would be operated on Franchisee Owned Franchisee Operated” (FOW) model, which involves that the store inventory be on the books of the franchisee, reports add. For TBZ-The Original, it would benefit in increasing its domestic operations more quickly in an asset-light manner and not burden its balance sheet, thereby improving Return on Capital Employed 11200:1 and Return on Equity (ROE).

The company noted that it would guide the franchisee partners initially to gain the ropes to operate as a TBZ-The Original, as per reports.