The food retail sector in Spain should see approximately 780 new store openings this year, according to a report published by industry representative group ASEDAS.
The sector saw the opening of 878 new stores in 2022, compared to 1,070 the previous year and 854 in 2020.
According to the report, which was prepared by Retail Data, some 251 new stores were opened in the period January to May 2023.
The new stores opened in 2022 added 540,000 square metres of retail space, and covered an average sales area of 619 square metres.
Network Size
At the end of 2022, the total size of the food retail network in Spain amounted to 14.88 million square metres (+1.58% year-on-year).
The total number of stores reached 25,170 at the end of 2022 (+99 on 2021 and +669 on 2020), of which 14,275 are convenience stores, 10,392 are supermarkets and 505 are hypermarkets.
Nearly 7,000 stores were opened or refurbished during the period 2020 to 2022, or 27.7% of the network, a figure that grows to 45% if the period is extended to the last five years.
Last year alone, 2,293 stores were opened or refurbished, while for the first five months of 2023 the number of refurbishments totalled 840.
Out of the 342 registered food retailers currently in operation, 229 operate a network of 10 or fewer stores, mostly at a local or provincial level, while another 57 have between 11 and 50 stores.
Almost 97% of the Spanish population have a food retailer operating in their municipality.
As of the end of 2022, some 27.3% of the active stores were located in municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants.
Market Challenges
Over the past year, the food retail sector in Spain has been faced with challenges marked by the war in Ukraine and its impact on food prices.
The Spanish government reduced the VAT on fresh or staple foods during the first half of 2023 to alleviate price increases for customers.
Read More: Spain Won't Reinstate VAT On Basic Foods Until Price Rises Ease Says Minister
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest Retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
