Biyani closes unviable Big Bazaar stores

In a bid to improve profitability, the Kishore Biyani-led Future

Group has shut down nine Big Bazaar stores last year and revamped existing ones. It also shut five Food Bazaar supermarkets. While the company opened 18-20 Big Bazaar stores in the last year, net store addition stood at 10. Big Bazaar stores at Bangalore, Kharghar and Sangli in Maharashtra, Tinsukia in Assam and Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh were closed down. The stores in Pune, Kolkata, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Indore and Ludhiana, among others, were relocated.

Big Bazaar is the largest and one of the oldest hypermarket chains in India. Starting operation in 2001, it has popularised organised retail in the country. Currently, it has 166 stores. The number of Food Bazaar stores stands at 43. The group has so far about 90 Big Bazaar stores in a revamped avatar, with a better look, increased cash counters and improved visual merchandising.

The Future Group is not the only one to shut non-performing stores. Retailers such as Aditya Birla Retail and Spencer’s Retail have also shut a number of loss-making stores last year. Aditya Birla Retail shut 50 of its loss-making supermarkets in Mumbai, Pune and Gujarat, while Spencer's closed nine supermarkets in Pune, along with some in Tamil Nadu.