Onur Market opens a Maslak store in its 30th year, where should a local grocer expand?
A new Onur Market store has opened in Maslak, İstanbul, as the grocery chain marks its 30th year, and company officials, quoted without names, speak of new investments focused on efficiency and quality growth (Perakende.org, 21 August 2026). Onur Market, presented as a company growing with domestic capital, lists its principles as “freshness, quality and flawless service”, under the motto “Fazlası Onur’da” (roughly, “There’s more at Onur”).
What it means for you: while a national chain like BİM adds 275 stores in a single quarter, a regional grocer still opens new branches and calls it “quality growth”. For a local grocery owner, the question is not “should I open” but “where, and at what pace”. The report gives no store count or floor area, so the lesson lies in how growth is defined, not in numbers.
What does Onur Market’s new Maslak store in its 30th year tell local grocers?
It tells them a regional chain is defining growth by selectivity, not speed. The report stresses that new investments focus on efficiency and quality growth. In autumn 2026, as national chains open stores at a fast clip, the right question for a local grocer in İstanbul is not how many stores to add, but whether each new branch can keep its own till ringing.
Where can a regional grocer like Onur Market compete while national chains grow this fast?
It can compete on freshness, service and knowing the neighbourhood. National chains race on scale, price and store density. Onur Market’s “freshness, quality and flawless service” points to areas that are hard to copy with scale alone.
Which criteria should a local grocer use to choose a new branch location?
Use four: where current customers come from, distance to the delivery route, competitor density in the area, and rent against expected sales per square metre. If even one of the four is weak, postponing the opening is often the most profitable call. A new branch should bring new customers, not steal them from your old one.
Which businesses do a regional grocer’s new branches affect, and how?
They hit the corner shop, greengrocer and small supermarket nearby directly, and suppliers and local shopkeepers indirectly. A new grocer redraws the neighbourhood’s shopping map. Some small businesses lose customers, others gain from more foot traffic.
Where should a local grocer’s new branch be visible online?
In map searches, on its business profile and on neighbourhood-focused social media accounts. In the first weeks, customers find a new branch through a “grocery near me” search on their phone, not the shop sign. A branch without the right address, opening hours, photos and department details barely exists online.
What should a grocery owner planning a new branch do this week?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- Map your customer addresses
- Compare sales per square metre across branches
- Combine online visibility with location data
This week, map where current customers live, rank candidate areas by distance to the delivery route, and write rent next to expected revenue for each one. These three tables let you sit down at the decision table with data instead of gut feeling. Do not sign a lease before they are ready.
Map your customer addresses
Count customer addresses by neighbourhood from loyalty card and home delivery records. Mark the areas that send the most customers but have no branch of yours. This list is the first cut of candidate sites.
Compare sales per square metre across branches
See each branch’s sales per square metre and rent share in one table. The more a candidate resembles your best performer’s neighbourhood, the lower the risk.
Combine online visibility with location data
Your business profile and site search data show which areas people are trying to reach you from. Put that next to the customer address table. We set this up with businesses as part of our digital consulting, reading location and online data together.
We look at how small shops can answer a national chain’s price move in our piece on BİM’s stationery prices. If you are weighing a new sales model inside your store, our article on Migros’s pay-by-weight restaurant asks the same question about standing out.
Quick Summary
- Onur Market opened a new store in Maslak, İstanbul, in its 30th year (Perakende.org, 21 August 2026).
- The report gives no total store count, no floor area for the Maslak store and no official’s name.
- BİM opened 275 new stores in the second quarter of 2026, reaching 14,851 (Bloomberg HT, 18 August 2026).
- Retail businesses in Türkiye operate under Law 6585 (Ministry of Trade).
- A local grocer should base a new branch on customer addresses, delivery route, competitor density and rent against revenue.
Short Glossary
- Sales per square metre
- Sales per square metre is the metric used to measure store efficiency by dividing sales in a period by selling area.
- Category mix
- Category mix is the retail term used to describe how much shelf space a store gives each product group.
- Quality growth
- Quality growth is the phrase used for a growth approach that puts each branch’s efficiency ahead of branch count.
Frequently Asked Questions
Next Step
If you want to assess candidate branch sites with customer and online data, fill in the consult your expert form and we will rank the areas with you.
Sources: Perakende.org, 21 August 2026 · Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Trade, Law 6585 · Bloomberg HT, 18 August 2026 · Migros corporate site · TÜİK data via CNBC-e, 11 September 2026 · Mynet, 2017. You can also visit our retail page, where we interpret the retail agenda for you.
Updated: October 2026
Sık Sorulan Sorular
The report gives no total store count, no list of provinces, and no address, floor area, format or opening day for the Maslak store. The official speaking is not named, and no title is given.
According to a 2017 Mynet report, Onur Market opened its 154th store in Batışehir on 17 March 2017, with about 5,000 employees at the time. Those figures belong to 2017 and do not show today’s scale. Job listings name the employer as “Özen Alışveriş Hizmetleri A.Ş. – Onur Market”.
The report says “30th year” but gives no founding date. Deriving a year from that phrase would be guesswork.
According to Bloomberg HT on 18 August 2026, BİM opened 275 new stores in the second quarter of 2026, bringing its total to 14,851. Migros says on its corporate site that it operates 3,784 stores in all 81 provinces with more than 77,000 employees. Racing that on store count is not realistic for a local grocer.
According to TÜİK, the Turkish Statistical Institute, retail sales volume rose 10.4% year on year in July 2026, while wholesale trade fell 4.2% (CNBC-e, 11 September 2026). Demand is lively overall, but that growth is not the same in every neighbourhood. A branch opened on the national average rather than local demand ends up with more stock sitting on the shelf.
For a grocer that sells on freshness, travel time between warehouse and branch is critical. A branch far from the current delivery route gives up either freshness or cost. Pick the site by the route, not by a gap on the map.
It does. Loyalty card, home delivery and online order addresses reveal which neighbourhoods your customers come from.
If one street already has three discount grocers, offer a different category mix instead of becoming the fourth. Fresh produce, a butcher or a deli counter is how you stand out in a crowded area. Without that, customers turn around at the door and walk to the nearby chain.
Law 6585 on the Regulation of Retail Trade sets the framework for retail openings, competition and consumer protection. It was adopted on 14 January 2015 and published in the Official Gazette, issue 29251, dated 29 January 2015; you can read it on the Ministry of Trade’s page on the law. Verify with the official source; this is not legal or financial advice.
Complementary businesses next to the new grocer win: the bakery, dry cleaner, pharmacy and café. The foot traffic the grocer draws also passes their doors.
The corner shop and small supermarket selling the same products in the same price range struggle. If the average basket is already low, losing a handful of customers shakes the till. In these shops, the feeling that sales have gone flat sets in a few weeks after the opening.
Local producers and wholesalers that supply regional grocers feel it indirectly. A new branch grows order volume and adds delivery points. With wholesale trade shrinking, that extra volume is an important door for a small supplier.
If the profile is not ready on opening day, the first searches go to a competitor. Verification can take time, so start the setup before you open. Each branch needs its own profile, phone number and opening hours.
Give each branch its own page on your website, with the neighbourhood name, address and key departments. Searches with the neighbourhood name then land on that page, not your generic homepage.
When your current store comfortably covers its rent and staff, and some customers come from a distant neighbourhood. Pull those two facts from your records first.
It is hard if you sell the same products at the same prices. If you stand out where the chain does not, such as fresh produce, deli or service, the traffic it draws can work for you too.
The core framework for retail businesses is Law 6585. Read the text on the Ministry of Trade’s page and consult a lawyer about your own situation.