Australia Mid-Year Retail Network Reports: Store openings up in past twelve months, but closures continue
GapMaps, a cloud-based location intelligence platform, has released its annual Fast Food & Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) report, which provides valuable insights on the number of store openings and closures in Australia for the year ending 30 June.
Tracking 28 brands in 6,734 locations, the report shows 275 stores opened and 118 stores closed across the 12-month period.
“In the reporting period we saw strong overall growth with a net increase of 157 new stores after taking into account openings and closures we’ve observed over the past 12 months,” said Scott Johnson, Senior Analyst, GapMaps.
McDonalds led in terms of new store openings with 31, followed by KFC (26), Subway (25), Sushi Hub (23), Dominos (21) and Zambrero (16).
The last quarter (April-June) yielded 60 new store openings with activity led by Dominos (13), Guzman Y Gomez (nine) and Sushi Sushi (five). The same period saw 30 closures, of which Subway and Mad Mex reported five each.
Over the full year, Subway reported 41 store closures, which resulted in net -16 over the 12-month period, followed by Nando’s (15), Pizza Hut (12) and Zambrero (eight).
On a per city level, Melbourne posted the most net store growth over 12 months with 47, followed by Perth with 20, Brisbane with 19 and Sydney with 17. Brands with the most stores per million residents are Subway (47.6), McDonalds (40.5), Dominos (28.7), and KFC (28.5).
In addition to Fast Food and QSR, GapMaps also released full year reports on Petrol Retail, Health & Fitness, Childcare, Auto Tyres & Servicing and Café. Key findings include:
Petrol Retail
● 12 brands tracked over 6,699 locations with 196 openings and 64 closures. BP Australia added 54 locations, followed by Metro Petroleum (37), Shell (28), 7Eleven Fuel (24) and Ampol Australia (20)
● Looking at closures, Ampol Caltex accounted for more than half with 34, followed by Coles Express with nine, Woolworths Petrol Plus with seven and Metro Petroleum with six
● The Petrol Retail sector has a large store footprint on highways away from populated centres, with only Shell and 7Eleven Fuel stores seeing 50 per cent or more of their growth in tier one (major metropolitan) areas
● The final quarter showed modest movements, with just 33 openings and five closures
Health & Fitness Centres
● 22 brands tracked over 3,424 locations with 159 facilities opened and 49 closures. Body Fit Training Australia added 38 centres, followed by Anytime Fitness (25), Fitstop Australia (24), Studio Pilates (15) and Snap Fitness (13)
● Looking at closures, Jetts Fitness accounted for 11, followed by Curves with nine, Anytime Fitness with five and EFM Health Clubs with four. The remainder were spread across 12 other brands.
● Most net growth occurred in major metropolitan locations led by Body Fit Training (30) expanding by 11 centres in Melbourne and 8 in Adelaide.
● The final quarter saw 30 centres open and eight closures. The openings were led by Anytime Fitness with seven and Fitstop Australia with five.
Childcare
Data recently compiled by GapMaps on the provision of childcare centres and Long Day Care (LDC) places within Australia shows at present there are some 8,555 centres providing an estimated 617,486 LDC places – an average of 72 places per centre.
That in turn means the provision of LDC places at present is equivalent to one place for every 3.2 children of childcare age. However, the picture varies enormously across all parts of the country, including within major metropolitan areas; between metropolitan areas and regional towns; and between states. Our analysis on availability of childcare services shows that:
● Less than half of Greater Melbourne has a childcare provision of at least one place for every three children aged 0-5, while many areas, particularly around the urban fringe, have less than half that provision, i.e. only one place for every six-seven children of childcare age and sometimes even less
● The picture is similar for Sydney while the level of provision overall is somewhat higher in Brisbane – though still with many local areas under-supplied.
● Of our Tracked Brands, Busy Bees and Edge Early Learning have seen the largest increases in network size (33 and 31 respectively)
● The two largest Tracked Brands (Goodstart Early Learning and G8 Childcare) have seen slight decreases in the size of their network, with only four openings and 13 closures between them
Auto Tyres & Servicing
● 14 brands tracked over 2,200 locations with 52 centres opened and 24 closures. Goodyear Autocare added 18 locations, followed by Tyrepower and mycar with nine locations each and Bridgestone Australia with six
● Looking at closures Bridgestone Australia accounted for five, followed by Tyrepower, mycar, Ultra Tune and Beaurepaires with three each
● The final quarter showed eight openings and six closures
Café
● The Café sector expanded with a net increase of 95 stores across Australia. Notable expansions were McDonalds (McCafe) and Gong Cha, adding 30 and 25 stores respectively, and Boost Juice (22)
● The Coffee Club saw a reconfiguring of its network, closing the most stores (13), but also opening 12 other stores across Australia
● Most openings and closures occurred in tier one (metro) locations with highest net store growth in Sydney (30), Melbourne (17) and Perth (17). Outside McDonalds’ large presence of McCafe stores in metro and regional cities, the Coffee Club’s provisions of 23.4 and 33.9 stores per million residents in Greater Brisbane and Sunshine coast were a notable strength compared to its average provision of 9.8.
“Each of our reports provide brands with unique insights and key trends into the changing competitor landscape in their respective retail sectors,” adds Johnson.
“Our ability to use a range of data points to represent the most up-to-date view of physical network locations is helping brands make better location decisions at a time when new working arrangements, such as hybrid, is having an impact on population habits and movements.”
Each of the reports are available to download:
