Food retail in Ukraine: the largest and most dynamic grocery chains identified
28 April 12:56
Almost half of the Top 10 Ukrainian grocery chains are represented by dynamically developing regional players. This is evidenced by an analytical study by the Retail Association of Ukraine on the development of Ukrainian food retail in 2024, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The study systematizes data on the number of new stores opened by almost three dozen Ukrainian grocery retailers that are members of the Retail Association of Ukraine.
Which chains are in the top 10
In 2024, the usual top three leaders – ATB (Dnipro), Fozzy Group (Kyiv) and VolWest Group (Lutsk) – changed. Instead of VolWest Group, another player from Lutsk, KLEVER Stores, which has been developing the Sim23 convenience store chain and a new brand of convenience stores called Simi since the end of 2022, took the third place in terms of the number of stores. During the year, the network of KLEVER STORES expanded by 87 outlets, the highest figure in the top 10. This increased the size of the retailer’s networks to 315 operating outlets. All of them are located mainly in the west of the country in Lviv, Khmelnytsky, Volyn, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil regions.
However, the undisputed leader in this segment is ATB, which had 1257 stores at the end of 2024. Last year, the retailer added 47 new outlets, and reconstructed 11 more.
The second place goes to Fozzy Group, which opened 84 stores and closed 32. As a result, the expansion of the company’s networks (Silpo, Fora, Fozzy Cash&Carry, Thrash! Thrash!) reached 826 outlets, which has already significantly exceeded the pre-war figures (by more than a hundred stores).
As already mentioned, VolWest Group (Lutsk), which develops Nash Krai and SPAR chains under the franchise scheme and is the largest retailer of this type, showed an increase of 28 stores. As of December last year, the Nash Krai and SPAR chains together had 276 outlets, which is only 7 more than in 2023. As a result, the company ranked fourth in terms of the number of stores.
The top five also includes one of the national players, the Myasomarket chain of stores developed by MHP. The company opened 32 stores in the year and almost equaled VolWest Group in size, with 273 outlets.
The top ten also includes Kolo, a Kyiv-based chain of convenience stores (246 outlets), and Faino Market, a retailer from Kropyvnytskyi (198) that is actively expanding beyond its home region of Kirovohrad and neighboring regions. There is also a very dynamic player from Vinnytsia, Alliance Retail Group (184 outlets), which has several brands at once – Domashniy Market, Osnova, Pro – Prosto Produkty and Masket.
The most dynamic chains
The leader in terms of growth (plus 38%) in 2024 was a regional player – the already mentioned Sim23 and Simi chain of stores, which added 87 stores at once.
The Mashket convenience store chain showed similar growth rates, overtaking ATB (plus 47 outlets), Thrash! Thrash! (41) and Fora (31) in terms of the number of newly opened outlets. Over the year, Mashket opened 67 new outlets, half of which were franchises, and another 10 were reformatted from the Home Market chain. As a reminder, the Mashket chain of convenience stores appeared as a result of the transformation of the Domashniy Market retailer at the end of 2023. In 2024, the chain expanded from two to six regions. Chernivtsi, Rivne, Khmelnytsky, and Zhytomyr regions were added to Kyiv and Vinnytsia. The stores operate in 16 cities, including two markets in Kyiv.
Another active regional player is the Fine Market chain of stores. In 2024, the retailer opened 27 new stores, one of which was completely renovated. As a result, the chain expanded its presence in Kirovohrad and Cherkasy regions and entered new regions – Odesa, Mykolaiv and Dnipro regions. As of December 2024, there were 198 Faino Market outlets in 69 settlements.
Network expansion with a focus on the West
If we analyze the geographical distribution of new locations of grocery chains, we can immediately see that most of the new stores were opened in the west of Ukraine – about 36.8%. This is due to both the relative safety of these regions and a sharp increase in the number of consumers due to population migration. Usually, these are small format stores targeting residents of the neighborhood around the outlet. A striking example is the Sim23 and Simi stores.
The capital and Kyiv region is also an important region for retailers in terms of network expansion. Almost a quarter (24%) of all new stores opened here in 2024. This is also easily explained by the status of the capital, where the main cash flows and high population density are concentrated. Two-thirds of new Fora stores and half of Thrash!
The central regions are also popular with retailers, with 22% of new openings last year. This is to some extent due to the active development of retailers from these regions. For example, Mashket from Vinnytsia or Fine Market from Kropyvnytskyi.
The northern and southern regions, which are actually frontline territories and are regularly shelled, cannot boast the same high performance. The north and south of the country account for 7.6% and 7.9% respectively. And the farther away from the front line, the more briskly stores are opening as a response to the demands of the population living there. For example, 15 new outlets opened in Zhytomyr region over the year, while only one in Sumy region.
The worst situation is in the east of the country, where only six new stores out of the top 10 chains opened in 2024. Accordingly, their share is only 1.7%.
