Construction Stores Have Started To Close En Masse In Russia
- 10.04.2026, 16:53
Another symptom of the growing crisis in the economy.
Construction store chains have begun to shrink amid falling demand, rising costs and a deteriorating housing market. According to Infoline, the Stroitelny Dvor chain closed 98 outlets by the end of 2025. The total number of stores for the year fell 23% to 322. The number of stores of the former OBI in Russia, which operates under the Domlenta brand (it has 23 hypermarkets left), also decreased by 12%.
At the end of 2025, the total sales of repair goods chains decreased by 2% to 1.15 trillion rubles, according to Infoline data. The largest player in the market - "Leman pro" (former "Leroy Merlin") revenue decreased by 6% to 550 billion rubles. The revenue of three legal entities of OBI decreased by 10% to 25.2 billion rubles. As explained by the director of business efficiency "Leman pro" Marsel Sagetdinov, the market has decreased client activity, primarily from the side of business and professional clients. According to him, the sector is pressured by stagnation in housing construction, rising prices for building materials and a decline in real incomes.
The representative of "VseInstrumenty.ru" noted that the traditional model of growth of such networks in conditions of slowing demand does not work. Associate Professor of the Trade Policy Department of Plekhanov Russian Economic University Svetlana Ilyashenko added that rent and maintenance of unprofitable stores in conditions of expensive loans and rising logistics costs are becoming "an impermissible luxury".
The weakness of the market for home and repair goods coincides with the deteriorating situation in residential construction. According to the results of the first quarter of 2026, the total revenue of housing developers in Moscow and the Moscow region decreased by 18.5% year-on-year to 497.49 billion rubles, wrote "Kommersant" with reference to Dataflat. Developers are not able to maintain the same level of sales even against the background of continuing price growth and cooling of the market after the deterioration of conditions for family mortgages. Managing partner of the agency "VMT Consult" Ekaterina Kosareva notes that the current stagnation is noticeable against the background of a high base of previous years, when demand was fueled by favorable mortgages. An additional factor was the economy on the part of Russians. As a result, repair costs are postponed, says Ilyashenko.