CU poised to overtake GS25 as Korea’s top convenience store

(Lee Chung-woo)

BGF Retail Co. announced on Thursday that its convenience store chain CU recorded 2.32 trillion won ($1.67 billion) in consolidated sales for the third quarter of this year.

Its industry rival GS Retail Co. reported a non-consolidated sales figure of 2.3 trillion won for its GS25 convenience stores in the same period.

Industry experts predict that CU’s non-consolidated basis sales, expected to be released on November 14, will likely fall between 2.27 trillion and 2.3 trillion won—just shy of GS25’s third-quarter performance. Although CU has not yet overtaken GS25 in sales, analysts forecast it may soon lead in store count, operating profit, and sales revenue.

BGF Retail’s preliminary figures indicate that CU’s third-quarter sales increased by 5.4 percent on-year to 2.32 trillion won, while operating profit rose by 4.8 percent to 91.2 billion won.

For the first three quarters, CU’s cumulative revenue totaled 6.48 trillion won, up 5.3 percent from the prior year, although operating profit slightly fell by 1 percent to 200 billion won.

BGF Retail attributed the growth to popular products that captured current trends, such as Dubai-inspired chocolates and fresh fruit highballs, which significantly boosted sales.

GS Retail, meanwhile, reported consolidated third-quarter revenue across its core businesses—including convenience stores, supermarkets, and home shopping—of 3.05 trillion won, up 3.7 percent, with an operating profit of 80.6 billion won.

GS25’s third-quarter sales reached 2.3 trillion won, a 3.9 percent rise, though its operating profit decreased by 6.5 percent to 72.9 billion won due to factors such as a downturn in real estate development and reduced earnings from subsidiaries.

GS Fresh, the company’s supermarket division, reported revenue of 423.5 billion won and operating profit of 13.9 billion won, marking respective year-over-year growth of 8.5 and 5.3 percent.

CU has led GS25 in store count since 2020, with 17,762 locations as of last year, compared to GS25’s 17,390.

Should CU surpass GS25 in revenue, it will become the top convenience store chain in Korea in terms of store count, revenue, and operating profit—a first in the competition between the two brands.