In Russia, for the first time in 25 years, a decline was recorded in the total number of retail outlets, the Russian Forbes magazine wrote, citing data from the consulting company INFOLine.
INFOLine founder Ivan Fedyakov said that the number of retail outlets in Moscow decreased from the beginning of 2025 to the beginning of 2026 from 87 thousand to 82.5 thousand, and in St. Petersburg – from 44 thousand to 42.2 thousand.
“In general, the situation in the country is no better than in the capitals. This applies to all retail outlets – from grocery stores close to home, supermarkets and fruit kiosks to telecommunications stores and clothing stores,” Fedyakov said.
In particular, Forbes wrote, in 2025, 12% of clothing stores in Russia closed, and the largest grocery chains opened about 5,300 stores across Russia in the period from January to September 2025, which is 30% less than in the same period of the previous year. At the same time, they closed existing grocery stores, for example, the VkusVilla and Svetofora chains were reduced by 10%.
The main reasons for the downsizing of retail outlets were cited by Fedyakov as the development of online trade, the increase in the cost of trade and the decrease in its margins (including due to tightening immigration legislation and increasing employee salaries), as well as an increase in taxes from January 1, 2026.
Another expert interviewed by Forbes, One Story partner Olga Sumchevskaya, cited the main reason for the decline in the number of stores as lower consumption in Russia. “Even those companies that have achieved plus or minus growth, all this happens because of food price inflation: it is always moderate, but it is high,” she said. Sumichevskaya also pointed to the transition of trade from offline to online as a major factor.
She also noted that for some food retailers, the reasons for reducing retail outlets are not purely economic. Thus, the Krasnoe i Beloe chain of stores selling alcohol faced legislative restrictions, the FAS had claims against the Svetofor chain and “it is difficult for them to bear all this burden.”