Modern Bazaar, one of Delhi-NCR’s oldest premium grocery retailers, is restructuring its store network as the rapid rise of quick commerce is forcing traditional supermarkets to rethink the size, location and economics of physical retail. The ₹250-crore turnover retailer, which operated about 27 stores until a year or so ago, now has around 12, with more outlets being evaluated for closure or relocation, its founders confirmed to Mint.
The retailer, which has been around for five decades, however, said it is not exiting physical retail. “We are trying to restructure the business, so that we are more profitable and are able to deal with the new headwinds that quick commerce is bringing," said Vedika Kumar, a member of the founding family, and advisory board member to Modern Bazaar Departmental Stores Pvt. Ltd. "We are trying to build a business that can sustain, and not only sustain, but excel in this new space.”
The gourmet retail chain has shut its stores in posh Defence Colony, Select CityWalk mall in Saket and New Friends Colony, among other areas. Its Gurugram location has also shut but will be replaced by a new outlet at another location close by.
“The consumer landscape is changing. We are trying to figure out how we should position ourselves best for the future,” Kumar added.
Modern Bazaar will continue to operate large-format outlets in some locations, but future locations and store sizes will be decided more selectively and based on profitability and consumer demand. “We are wondering if we really need a large store like the one we had in Select CityWalk mall,” she added.
“Our Express store format has seen a success,” Kumar said, adding that the company plans to open more such stores across Delhi-NCR, and eventually outside the region. Smaller stores have lower rentals and cater to a different consumer segment, she said. Express stores have a neighborhood shop concept, designed for quick purchases and fast service.
The shift comes as quick-commerce platforms have expanded into premium, imported and gourmet products, categories that traditionally helped differentiate retailers such as Modern Bazaar from the conventional supermarkets.
The company does not intend to compete with quick-commerce companies on delivery speed, but will look to complement them in some way. “I don't think we can, and the strategy is never to compete with them,” she said.
The retailer sees online commerce as complementary to its stores and said its customers continue to come to its outlets for larger grocery trips, with stores carrying more than 50,000 stock-keeping units. “We want to build an online commerce offering that is not really focused on minutes, but helps keep the loyalty of the consumer in-house,” she said.
The company’s operating revenue rose from ₹232.7 crore in FY21 to ₹288 crore in FY23, before remaining broadly flat in FY24 and falling 13.6% to ₹247.2 crore in FY25, according to financial data from Tofler. Its net profit, too, fell to ₹1.43 crore in FY25 from ₹2.62 crore a year earlier, translating into a margin of about 0.6%.
Modern Bazaar's direct rivals include FoodStories, Nature’s Basket and Le Marche.
Bad decisions
Many of the supermarket chain’s woes come from poor management, said a senior industry executive privy to the company’s functioning.
“Modern Bazaar stores are pretty badly managed,” this executive told Mint, requesting anonymity. “They don’t have basic controls and structures in place. There are gaps between reported and actual inventory, and a lot of expired stock."
The executive also pointed to ethics issues. "They have a practice of mislabeling goods with new expiry dates. And there are no controls in place either, which leaves the company vulnerable to theft from employees and financial misgovernance,” the executive said.
Kumar strongly refuted the charge of relabelling. "The claim is unverified, completely false, and does not reflect our practices. For third-party branded products, expiry and best-before dates are printed or affixed by the manufacturer and are not altered, replaced or extended by Modern Bazaar. The only labelling undertaken by us is for certain products prepared or packaged in-house, in accordance with applicable food safety requirements," Kumar said, adding Modern Bazaar has served "generations of customers by putting quality, food safety and a genuine love of food" at the heart of its promise. "Customer trust is fundamental to Modern Bazaar, and we take any allegation that calls that trust into question extremely seriously," she said.
While the company does not intend to compete with quick commerce, it has also not managed to offer online orders. Shruti Vaish, a 50-plus resident of Gurugram, who has lived in DLF Phase 1 for 26 years, says her local Modern Bazaar would take orders on WhatsApp but routinely failed to deliver. “I have moved to Blinkit and Country Delight for online deliveries,” she told Mint.
Financial pain
The retailer has been facing pressure from suppliers. Mint has learnt that several vendors have become more cautious about extending the working-capital cycle to Modern Bazaar following payment defaults and shutdowns across the sector.
“Vendors have been concerned over payments, leaving some stores with limited inventory. Lower inventory affects sales, weaker sales put further pressure on cash flows, and strained cash flows make it harder to meet supplier and rental obligations,” said a person from the retail industry.
On payment issues, Modern Bazaar's Kumar said: “There's a general fear because so many retailers have shut down. We have historically operated on a working-capital cycle, rather than making immediate payments, but suppliers have increasingly sought changes to those terms.”
“We intend to honour supplier obligations and are working on a plan to pay vendors, while trying to ensure that payments are distributed across the supplier base rather than prioritizing a few,” she added.
The pressure is particularly significant for a retailer carrying the fixed costs of a large physical network, even as consumer behaviour shifts towards convenience-led purchases.
“There is space for a consumer that still wants to go to stores. Retail will always have a place, but what it looks like may be a little different. We are really focused on figuring out how we build a company that's super profitable and lean for the future,” Kumar said.
The retailer has also been in discussions around a potential strategic transaction, but Kumar declined to comment on whether any deal is close to being finalized. “We are in conversations. Nothing is concrete yet,” she said.
The IMARC Group said in its report ‘India Gourmet Foods Market’ that it estimates India's gourmet foods market at $5.4 billion in 2025 and $6.6 billion in 2026, with a projected CAGR of 17.78% through 2034.
(This story was updated with the company's denial on labelling issues and the number of store closures)