A ranking of retailers by store openings reveals that the symbol groups dominate, while the popularity of c-stores shows no sign of abating.

top 30 openings

McColl’s tops the table of net openings for the 12 months to the end of July, according to research from the Local Data Company. The symbols groups are being largely driven by signing up independents to their umbrella group, rather than organic store openings.

Excluding symbol groups, Sainsbury’s and Screwfix are the retailers recording the most aggressive store openings.

RankFasciaNet openingsOpened
units		Closed
units		Live
units		% growth 
1 McColl’s 129 138 9 825 18.5
2 Nisa Local 101 169 68 883 12.9
3 Premier Stores 89 493 404 3,074 3
4 Sainsbury’s Local 79 82 3 710 12.5
5 Screwfix Direct 78 79 1 387 25.2
6 One Stop 76 85 9 819 10.2
7 Vets 4 Pets 74 74 0 180 69.8
8 Sofastore 48 51 3 51 1,600
9 Savers Health & Beauty 47 55 8 291 19.3
10 Vision Express 45 57 12 376 13.6
11 Vodafone 37 64 27 498 8
12 CeX 36 37 1 252 16.7
= 13 M Local 34 42 8 155 28.1
= 13 Toolstation 34 34 0 185 22.5
= 13 Poundland 34 52 18 506 7.2
16 Card Factory 33 48 15 734 4.7
= 17 Aldi 32 34 2 576 5.9
= 17 The Carphone Warehouse 32 67 35 773 4.3
19 Roman 31 40 9 118 35.6
20 Boots Opticians 29 44 15 510 6
21 B&M 28 34 6 252 12.5
22 Pandora 27 35 8 162 20
= 23 Budget 26 35 9 102 34.2
= 23 Store Twenty One 26 38 12 199 15
= 23 Poundworld 26 34 8 221 13.3
26 Premier Express 25 32 7 86 41

(Source: Local Data Company)

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