20% of traditional grocers in Chennai have shut up shops in five years, says GCC

Chennai Corporation addresses the closure of traditional grocers due to online platforms and rising real estate costs.

Over 20% of the traditional grocers in Chennai have shut up shop in the last five years and 30% of larger departmental stores selling groceries from more than 1.000 sq.ft. area have closed during the same period, according to Chennai Corporation. The civic body has started holding talks with traders’ associations to facilitate welfare schemes for the traders and protect their livelihood.

Chennai Corporation has already relaxed norms pertaining to trade licence. The number of licensed grocery stores measuring less than 500 sq.ft. has fallen from 10,645 to 8,476 retail outlets in the 426 sq.km. of Chennai Corporation.

As many as 2,169 grocers closed down in the past five years in Chennai with the Royapuram zone, covering the Central Business District of George Town, accounting for the largest number. A total of 286 out of 1,342 grocers in Royapuram zone shut shops in the past five years.

In Kodambakkam zone covering commercial areas such as T.Nagar, 199 out of 645 grocers closed their outlest in the last five years. A total of 207 out of 695 grocers closed down in Teynampet zone while 183 out of 634 in Anna Nagar shut down during the same period after COVID-19 pandemic. In the Adyar zone, 171 grocery stores had closed while 537 trades were active as on March 5, 2025.

While the average reduction in the number of grocers is around 20% in the 15 zones of the city, zones such as Perungudi, with many IT professionals in the vicinity of Rajiv Gandhi Salai, registered more than 34% reduction in the number of grocery stores.

Chennai Corporation has not maintained records of traditional grocers who closed the trade after demonetisation in 2016. According to data maintained by Greater Chennai Corporation, the licensed departmental stores (bigger supermarkets) in the 15 zones of Chennai came down from 577 to 388 in the last five years.

Chennai Corporation has issued licences for the highest number of large departmental stores in Anna Nagar zone with 67 active licences as on March 5, 2025. As many as 27 out of 95 large departmental stores had been closed in the last five years in Anna Nagar. in Kodambakkam zone, 23 out of 89 departmental stores had been closed