The Fresh Market will open 22 new store locations in the next two years, according to the retailer’s most recent quarterly earnings report. South American retailer Cencosud (parent company to The Fresh Market) announced the expansion.
This translates to 14% growth for the specialty grocery chain’s fleet over the next 24 months. The expansion news comes as Cencosud marks year one of majority ownership of The Fresh Market. Last May, the Chilean-based retail group purchased 67% of The Fresh Market grocery chain in a deal valued at $676 million.
The Fresh Market is now in its 41st year in business, with 159 stores across 22 states. Cencosud also reported a solid performance in its financial results during the second quarter of the year with revenue growth of 12.9%, reaching $ 4.5 million, the ninth consecutive quarter of double-digit sales growth.
The grocer said the growth increases were mainly due to its consolidation of The Fresh Market in the United States and GIGA Atacado in Brazil, and to the increase in market share of its supermarkets in Chile and Brazil, compared to the same period of 2022.
“In these 12 months, The Fresh Market has contributed with an Adjusted EBITDA of US$ 210 million and an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 10.4% to the company's consolidated result, exceeding estimates. In addition, during this quarter we opened the first store post-acquisition and plan to add 22 additional stores in the next 24 months,” said Matías Videla, CEO of Cencosud.
Other key highlights from the quarterly earnings report include:
- In Brazil, Supermarket revenues increased 13.6% in real terms and 7.1% in Chilean pesos
- In Supermarkets Chile, revenues increased 6.6% compared to the second quarter of 2022, driven by same-store sales of 5.5%, an 8.6% growth in online sales, and the opening of four new Spid stores (convenience format)
- Cencosud opened six new stores and remodeled 41 stores at the regional level
- Cencosud achieved an online penetration rate of 10.4% of total sales in the second quarter of the year
- The grocer introduced CencoPay, a new digital payment method which exceeded 225,000 downloads since its launch
