Top retailers, QSRs added 4 stores a day in FY21

Top listed retailers and quick service restaurant chains opened nearly four new stores every day on an average during FY21, despite Covid restrictions forcing them to shutter existing ones and delayed construction for several weeks.

In the last fiscal, a dozen companies including Reliance Retail, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL), D-Mart, Tata's Trent and Starbucks added 1,350 outlets to reach a combined store network of 21,224 stores, according to data sourced from annual reports and investor presentations. In FY19-20, their overall store strength was 19,874.

Companies also accelerated store launches to take advantage of lower rates as rent at marquee properties, especially at high street fell to a three-year low, said experts. “Whenever retailers are getting an opportunity to expand and enter a new territory, they are not shying away from it. The current situation is also in the favour of retailers as landlords are on backfoot and want large retailers to take anchor space,” said Rehan Huck, vice-president, retail at ILC Group, adding sales have bounced back strongly to 70-80% levels after the second wave.


While the expansion rate is nearly half compared to FY19-20, when these retailers opened 2,315 new doors, experts said last fiscal also saw several stores being shut which reduced the overall addition significantly. For instance, while Reliance added over 1,500 new stores while ABFRL added over 400 stores, they also rationalized the network by shutting down unviable stores, lowering the overall count.