In February of this year, Russia’s leading food retailer X5 Group chose to shut its final Karusel hypermarket. Ekaterina Lobacheva, the head of the company, shared the decision and its context in an interview with RBC. Her comments shed light on how the closure fit into a broader strategic shift for the company and the retail market at large.
Lobacheva noted that the wind-down of the Karusel network had been organized with careful planning and discipline. By the final stages, the remaining outlets had started to generate positive financial results, a sign that the restructuring was moving toward a favorable outcome. She highlighted that even the last store, located in Belgorod, posted a positive EBITDA, indicating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization that exceeded expectations for the closing phase.
The shift in consumer behavior emerged as a central driver for ending the Karusel project. Over the past three to five years, Russian shoppers have undergone notable changes, with a broader range of choices and a pronounced migration of traffic toward online shopping channels that intensified during the pandemic. These trends influenced how the company evaluated the role Karusel should play within its overall portfolio.
Historically connected to the X5 Group, Karusel dates back to a time when it stood as a prominent hypermarket concept. The strategic decision to transform the business began in September 2019, after which some Karusel stores were closed and others reassigned to the management of the Perekrestok retail chain. By the end of March 2022, the Karusel brand had a presence of 28 stores across the federation, illustrating the scale of the network before the final exits.
The first Karusel store opened in St. Petersburg, marking the launch of a chain that shared founders with the Pyaterochka brand. The founders include Andrey Rogachev, Alexander Girda, Tatyana Franus, and Igor Vidyaev, whose early vision helped shape a segment of Russia’s modern retail. Four years after Karusel’s inception, X5 Retail Group, a company formed by merging Pyaterochka and Perekrestok, exercised its option to acquire Karusel, integrating it into a larger family of formats and sharpening its focus on a cohesive omnichannel strategy.
Throughout the transition, X5 Group pursued a disciplined approach to portfolio management. The decision to retire Karusel was not taken lightly, but was guided by a clear understanding of evolving consumer needs, competitive dynamics, and the expanding role of digital channels in everyday shopping. The company emphasized that the closure process was carried out in a manner designed to protect remaining operations, preserve liquidity, and maintain service standards for customers across its other brands.
In reflecting on the broader market, observers note that the Karusel experience offers insights into how large retail groups adapt to changing landscapes. The interplay between physical store networks and online marketplaces has become a defining feature of modern retail strategy. For X5 Group, the closure of the Karusel hypermarkets does not signal retreat from growth; rather, it represents a recalibration that concentrates resources where they can deliver the strongest customer value and the best financial returns.
Industry observers also point to the importance of timing in strategic exits. Aligning store closures with ongoing consumer shifts, and ensuring continued alignment with the brand portfolio, helps sustain overall competitiveness. As the retail sector continues to evolve, the X5 Group experience with Karusel illustrates how a diversified group can reconfigure its footprint while maintaining momentum in core formats that drive growth and efficiency.
Looking ahead, the company is expected to keep refining its mix of formats, leveraging its scale, and intensifying its digital operations. The Karusel chapter, while concluded, provides a case study in balancing tradition with transformation, and in recognizing when a brand’s moment in the market has passed. The outcome underscores a broader industry pattern: markets migrate toward channels and models that better align with consumer expectations, even as audiences remain loyal to the convenience and value that large, integrated retail groups strive to deliver.