Spencer’s Retail is in the process of shutting down its stores in Delhi-NCR as it seeks to withdraw entirely from the loss-making market in the capital region, sources close to the situation have revealed.
“Running stores in the NCR has not been feasible for Spencer’s for some time,” said a source familiar with the situation. “The process of shutting them down has now begun.”
The BSE-listed Spencer’s Retail operates 18 stores across Delhi, Gurugram, and Noida, including supermarkets of around 25,000 sq. ft. and neighbourhood stores of about 3,000 sq. ft., all of which will be closed, according to sources.
In recent weeks, Spencer’s Retail stores across NCR have been offering steep clearance discounts of up to 70% on a wide range of products, from food and furniture to electronics and home goods.
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The company’s hypermarkets carry between 15,000 to 20,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs), while the smaller kirana stores offer between 3,500 and 6,000 SKUs, depending on their size.
Spencer’s Retail is also exiting the markets in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, alongside Delhi-NCR. In Telangana, Spencer’s primarily operates in Hyderabad, with additional presence in Andhra Pradesh’s coastal regions.
Delhi-NCR, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana are the latest markets the Kolkata-based retailer is exiting, following its withdrawal from the southern markets of Tamil Nadu and Kerala last year.
Focus on Eastern UP and West Bengal:
“When we reviewed the business, we realised that given our scale and strengths, we are best positioned to focus on a few key geographies,” Anuj Singh, managing director of Spencer’s Retail, said in an interview last year. “We identified these geographies as West Bengal, Eastern UP—which includes cities like Banaras, Lucknow, Allahabad, and Gorakhpur—and NCR.”
The company will now concentrate on Eastern Uttar Pradesh in the north and its home market of West Bengal, according to a second source who requested anonymity.
Spencer’s Retail is a part of the Kolkata-based RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, a conglomerate with diverse interests in sectors such as power, chemicals, media and entertainment, and sports. The group also owns the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise representing Lucknow.
