Study: Extreme discounters, off-price retailers lead planned 2025 store growth
The discount sector will be responsible for the lion’s share of store growth this year.
A new report from Coresight Research reveals that, when it comes to store openings, the discount sector is flourishing, with planned openings at roughly 1,253 stores in 2025, marking nearly a third (30%) of all total openings. This is followed by the apparel and footwear sector, slated to record 1,000 stores opening in 2025.
“The discount retail landscape is growing and changing, fueled by expansion and new models on the supply side and longer-term demographic and economic factors on the demand side,” John Mercer, head of global research at Coresight Research told Chain Store Age. “The overall discount space includes category specialists in apparel, home, grocery and more (e.g., Primark, TJX, Aldi), and monochannel platforms online (e.g., Temu, Shein).”
Coresight estimates reveal that two dollar chains (extreme discounters) are leading the discount expansion charge. Dollar General plans to open an estimated 611 stores in 2025, while Dollar Tree plans to open an estimated 378 stores. These two retailers contribute nearly 79% of the total store openings in the discount stores sector.
Within the apparel sector, off-price retailer Burlington Stores plans to open an estimated 104 stores, followed by The TJX Companies, which plans to open an estimated 93 stores in 2025.
In grocery, discount supermarket chain Aldi plans to open an estimated 225 stores in 2025. After a large gap, Aldi is followed by Sprouts Farmers Market in the grocery sector, which plans to open 35 new stores.
“Discounters in the grocery, apparel and dollar store sectors have deepened their foothold in the U.S. over the past few years by attracting a broad base of budget-conscious customers across the income spectrum who are looking to stretch their paychecks,” added Mercer. “We have seen the success of discounters in previous years, as high-quality, expansionist discount formats flourished in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis and maintained positive momentum through to the 2020s.”
The expansion in certain sectors comes as overall store closings have risen. As of midyear, there have been approximately 5,940 store closures (actual or planned) for 2025, up 66.8% versus the same point last year.
