HYDERABAD: Who doesn’t want their home to look classy? Most of us go through the pain of browsing various catalogues before zeroing in on what’s best for our home. Sunil Suresh, Founder and CEO of Stanley group, with the aim of aiding the quest of finding the right furniture in mind, launched their store Stanley Level Next at Banjara Hills Road No 12. The store offers luxury decor and furniture that you would choose to make your home look classy. We get in touch with Sunil Suresh, who talks about his journey and Hyderabad’s furniture and decor buying trends.
Speaking about how it all began and his pan-India business, he says, “I am 57 years old and I am a first generation entrepreneur. I started this journey by making automotive seat covers in 1996. Before that, I was working for a leather garment company for six years, where we made garments for European companies and that is how I understood the business of leather and luxury.
After my wedding in 1994, we started a small startup in a garage and then in a couple of years, we were a pan-India brand.” Adding, “We were initially known as a leather seater brand and in the year 2000 someone asked me for a leather sofa and from then the journey started, where we started making leather furniture. We are very fussy about being perfect.” Interestingly, former business tycoon, Vijay Mallaya was his customer and opened their first store in 2001. “Today we have two manufacturing facilities with 1,400 people working in Bengaluru and we have 42 showrooms all over India. I am very happy that we opened in the city. Hyderabad is one of the largest housing markets in the country and they value quality,” says Sunil.
Talking about the challenges that they overcame as a brand he says, “The challenges in the manufacturing area is where our Indian mentality doesn’t understand 100 per cent quality. I always had to bring well-trained trainers working for me like Italians and Germans whom I got to train people in India. The second challenge was headhunting for my companies.” Sunil wants Stanley to expand further and be a 1,000 stores spread business.