As the sale process of Homeplus Express, a subsidiary of Homeplus Co. that entered corporate rehabilitation proceedings in Mar. last year, drags on, GS The Fresh is steadily adding stores and accelerating its push to cement the No. 1 position in the corporate supermarket (SSM) industry.
While Homeplus Express suffered business disruptions as the sale process lengthened alongside its parent company's management woes, Lotte Super and Emart Everyday focused on weeding out inefficient stores and improving profitability. In contrast, GS The Fresh has expanded its footprint by continuing to open new franchise-centered locations.
According to the retail industry on the 15th, GS The Fresh posted sales of 453.4 billion won and operating profit of 12.1 billion won in the first quarter. Compared with a year earlier, sales rose 9.0% and operating profit jumped 55.1%. An increase in operating stores from new openings, growth at existing stores, and the expansion of quick commerce (fast delivery within zones) drove the improved results. First-quarter same-store sales grew 4.7%, and quick commerce sales rose 32.8%. The share of quick commerce in sales also climbed 0.8 percentage point, from 8.9% in the fourth quarter of last year to 9.7% in the first quarter this year.
As of the end of the first quarter, GS The Fresh operates 589 stores nationwide. Of these, 479 are franchises and 110 are company-owned. GS The Fresh locations steadily increased from 378 in 2022 to 434 in 2023, 531 in 2024, 585 in 2025, and 589 in the first quarter this year. During the same period, franchise stores more than doubled from 230 to 479. Among major SSM operators, GS The Fresh is the only one that has clearly maintained an opening push through recently.
Lotte Super's first-quarter sales came to 305.8 billion won, up 0.2% from a year earlier, but operating profit fell 30.7% to 2.2 billion won. As of the first quarter this year, it had 331 stores, down 18 from 349 in the first quarter last year. Lotte Super is pursuing a strategy of closing inefficient stores and selectively opening in prime locations. Store rebalancing helped defend sales, but expenses incurred during the opening process appear to have weighed on short-term profitability.
Emart Everyday is also putting the emphasis on store optimization and profitability over scale expansion. First-quarter sales at Emart Everyday were 364.5 billion won, up 2.3% from a year earlier, and operating profit was 8.3 billion won, up 51.4%. The number of stores fell from 253 in 2023 to 242 at the end of last year, and further to 240 at the end of the first quarter this year. An E-MART official said, "We are continuing openings and closures as each store's lease expires and are working to improve operating efficiency."
While competitors have been reorganizing their SSM businesses in their own ways—franchise openings, selective openings, and store optimization—Homeplus Express has faced business constraints due to parent Homeplus Co.'s liquidity crunch. Homeplus Express stores, which numbered 310 in 2023, decreased to 293 at the end of last year.
Even so, the industry still sees Homeplus Express's business base itself as competitive. By number of stores, it ranks in the No. 3 tier after GS The Fresh and Lotte Super, and it holds many locations with strong access in daily-life zones such as city centers and residential areas.
In particular, Homeplus Express operates about 76% of all its stores as quick commerce delivery hubs. In addition, more than 90% of its stores are in densely populated areas such as the Seoul metropolitan area and major cities. Given that the core strengths of SSMs lie in fresh food and nearby shopping needs, store locations and their usability as delivery hubs are still seen as valid advantages.
Recently, with Harim Group acquiring Homeplus Express, the potential to leverage the store network is expected to grow. Homeplus Co. and NS Shopping, a Harim Group subsidiary, received approval from the Seoul Bankruptcy Court on the 7th and signed a business transfer agreement for Homeplus Express. Under the structure, NS Shopping will assume part of Express's debt and Homeplus Co. will receive 120.6 billion won in cash. Homeplus Express's total assets were valued at about 317.0 billion won, with net worth of about 146.0 billion won.
Harim Group has food manufacturing capabilities in chicken and livestock, home meal replacement (HMR), ramen, and more. Harim Group plans to combine these with Homeplus Express's nearby store network to create synergies in strengthening livestock and fresh food categories, expanding private-label products, and improving logistics efficiency.
An industry official said, "Homeplus Express has faced constraints on new investment and openings, but judging by store locations alone, there are many competitive areas," and added, "If Harim Group successfully combines its competitiveness in livestock and fresh food with the store network, it can emerge as a major player in the SSM market."