50% of DMart outlets shut due to coronavirus lockdown: Avenue Supermarts

Avenue Supermarts, which runs the DMart chain of stores, on Friday said nearly 50 per cent of its outlets were closed due to the lockdown and Covid-19 restrictions imposed by local authorities.

Footfalls at stores that were open were lower than usual, the company said, pointing to the impact that retail firms, both organised and unorganised, were feeling due to the lockdown. “We continue to sell daily-use items such as grocery and fast moving consumer goods products and have stopped selling non-essential items such as general merchandise and apparels,” the company said.

For the quarter ended December 31, DMart had 196 stores with a retail floor space of 7 million sq. ft. across 72 cities and towns.

Considered the most efficient retailer in the country, DMart has had to turn to the online channel and home deliveries to mitigate sales concerns due to the lockdown.

“We have just commenced e-commerce home delivery and bulk deliveries to large housing complexes across majority of our stores in the first week of April. But sales from these channels are inconsequential and have been implemented to manage the current lockdown situation,” it said.

On Monday, the Retailers of Association of India had said that 25 per cent of retail firms would be out of business if the government did not support the sector, reeling under revenue losses due to the lockdown and containment zones.

Barring grocery, no other retail category has witnessed sales over the last few weeks due to shutdown of malls, shopping centres and marketplaces.

RAI also said that retail firms would take three quarters to stabilise, with the association asking for immediate relief measures from the government to bankroll the sector, which employs 6 million people. This included an extension of the loan moratorium to retailers to 270 days, providing additional working capital to tide over the cash crunch and making available easy credit lines to pay wages and salaries.