Rare Rabbit, selling "the space between products" rather than products — inside its largest Bengaluru flagship

The House of Rare, which runs menswear brand Rare Rabbit, opened a flagship store of about 6,000 square feet across 2 floors in Bengaluru's Indiranagar on September 8, 2026. It brings together four brands — men's, women's, kids', and shoes — under one roof, and the founder says the focus is placed not on the product itself, but on "the experience between products." How to build a large directly operated store in India is concrete material for Japanese apparel and lifestyle goods companies wanting to showcase their brand's brand story locally.

Starting news: Rare Rabbit's operator opens a two-floor Bengaluru flagship

On September 8, The House of Rare opened a two-floor flagship of about 6,000 square feet along Indiranagar's 100 Feet Road. There, it lined up menswear brand Rare Rabbit, womenswear brand Rareism, kidswear brand Rare Ones, and footwear brand Rare'Z, showing all four brands at once. According to the company, this is its largest store in Bengaluru, and its second-largest flagship in India after Kolkata.

Background: about 25 stores in Bengaluru, about 42 nationwide

The House of Rare is an Indian apparel company built around Rare Rabbit that holds several brands, with reports putting it at about 25 stores in Bengaluru and about 42 nationwide. This move is a departure for a company that has so far built up single-brand street and mall stores, choosing this time to deliberately consolidate four brands into one building. Indiranagar is a district dense with dining and retail, and the large store was placed in a location expected to draw weekend foot traffic.

How does shopping change when four brands share one building

Stacking four brands vertically encourages visitors to "buy across categories while staying within the same brand story." A customer who picks out clothes at menswear brand Rare Rabbit can see women's, kids', and shoes just up the same staircase, making household-level cross-shopping likely in a single visit. The founder's focus on the sales floor's lighting, materials, and entry sequence reflects an aim to raise spend per customer through dwell time rather than item count.

How it is being received locally and in the industry

Founder Manish Poddar said at the opening, "For me, the interesting part of a store is what happens between products — the light, the materials, how you enter the space." Co-founder Akshika Poddar commented, "There's real power in showing a brand across every dimension. Bengaluru has always given us curious consumers," citing local customer response as the reason for choosing the city. Trade media such as Indian Retailer have reported this store as an extension of the experiential flagship concept.

Implications for Japanese companies: where to place a large store that showcases a brand story

If Japanese apparel or lifestyle goods companies build a large directly operated store in India, a layout that lets customers experience the brand as a whole through the flow from entry to checkout works better than simply broadening the assortment of individual items. There's also the case of turning shoe displays into a customer-participation format —Converse's largest store in India, in Bengaluru— and the case of bundling a directly operated network around customer service —Wacoal's Mumbai flagship— both are earlier examples of large stores that differentiate through experience. Which district of which city a first store is placed in changes the speed of the subsequent rollout.

Ripple effects on the market: a rush of large stores into major regional cities

The House of Rare's move is part of a broader trend of Indian retailers adding large stores in major cities and Tier 2 cities. Reliance and DMart's move to open 2,182 new stores in a year read alongside this shows a competition emerging over which brand secures large mall and street-front spaces.

Practical information and related links

• A D2C technique that turns regional cities into a store-opening data network is Snitch's Ludhiana store opening
• A store-opening technique that captures Tier 2 cities first is NEWME's Vadodara store opening
• and consecutive openings in major cities are shown by UNIQLO's Expansion into Pune and Bengaluru

Summary: decide up front between consolidating under one roof or a single-item rollout across many stores

The House of Rare's Bengaluru flagship is an example of a store opening that bundles multiple brands into one building to raise spend per customer through the dwell experience. Japanese companies wanting to expand their own brand in India should first decide, before opening store number one, whether to increase the number of single-brand stores or to consolidate multiple lines into one building and showcase them through a brand story. A good starting point is to actually walk 2 or 3 large mall and street-front spaces in candidate cities to check the flow.

Sources

• Indian Retailer"The House of Rare opens largest Bengaluru flagship store in Indiranagar"