OREANDA-NEWS  The number of convenience stores in Russia is declining due to rising costs, falling sales, and the development of online sales with delivery. Kommersant writes about this with reference to data from analysts and market participants.

According to Infoline, the number of such outlets decreased by 7-8 percent over the year. The 2GIS service indicated that in March 2026, there were 6.4 percent fewer convenience stores in the largest cities than in the same period last year.

The largest share of outlets operating 24 hours a day is in St. Petersburg (22.6 percent), Krasnodar (20.4 percent) and Omsk (15.5 percent). The least of them are in Voronezh (4.3 percent), Novosibirsk (4.9 percent) and Samara (5.7 percent).

Olga Sumishevskaya, a partner at the One Story consulting company, recalled that the Labor Code of the Russian Federation requires paying at least 20 percent more per hour than during the day for work between 22:00 and 06:00. At the same time, personnel costs remain the main expense item of companies developing a round-the-clock format, and they cease to be justified.

Stanislav Bogdanov, Chairman of the Association of Retail Companies, pointed out that the transition of the population to a savings model has further reduced the night traffic of stores. In addition, consumers are increasingly choosing to order home delivery.

Marina Malakhatko, a partner at NF Group, suggests that the trend towards closing convenience stores or limiting their opening hours will continue. It will be less noticeable in cities with high population density, active nightlife and a developed tourist flow, such as in St. Petersburg and Krasnodar.

Earlier it was reported that Russian grocery retail chains began to reduce the number of new store openings, and hard discounters became the leaders in growth.