Shufersal — the Giant Under Fire

By מערכת סופרקליר · 2026-07-09 · 2 min read

₪711M — Shufersal's net profit in 2025 — a record, even as sales fell 7.4% (per Calcalist)

Almost every Israeli has shopped at Shufersal at some point. It's the largest chain in Israel — but over the past two years it's also been one of the most controversial. Its story is a story about what happens when a giant decides to put profit first.

The giant

Shufersal was founded in 1957, and its first store opened in August 1958 on Ben-Yehuda Street in Tel Aviv — Israel's first American-style supermarket chain. Since then it has become the country's largest food retailer; per Wikipedia, as of March 2024 it had about 425 stores across various formats. It also runs "Shufersal Online," the largest online supermarket in Israel.

The Amir-brothers era

In February 2024 control changed hands: brothers Yossi and Shlomi Amir acquired a controlling stake of about 24.9% (Globes), in a deal that valued the company at about NIS 6 billion. These are the same brothers who built the "Freshmarket" chain and sold it to Paz in 2021. They were appointed joint CEOs, replacing the previous CEO, Uri Watterman. The chairmanship, too, was shaken up that year. The new line was clear: profitability above all.

Prices up, sales down — and a profit that jumps

According to TheMarker, Shufersal led the chains in price increases — about 16% on average on supplier products since early 2023, sometimes double its competitors. A separate report revealed that, in parallel, it cut about 9.7% of its workforce. The financial result is striking: per Calcalist, in 2025 sales fell 7.4% to about NIS 14.5 billion — yet net profit actually rose 8.2% to a record NIS 711 million, with gross margin improving to 30.1%.

Prices up, sales down — and the profit climbed. That's not a contradiction; it's a strategy.

Customers voted with their feet

The public responded. Per TheMarker, same-store sales kept falling (about 8% in the first quarter of 2025), and customers moved to cheaper chains like Rami Levy and Yohananof. Per Calcalist, the loyalty club lost about 100,000 members (a 4.3% drop). In parallel, the Competition Authority summoned Shufersal and its former CEO, Itzik Abrekhen, to a hearing over suspected coordination of price increases — a proceeding that has not yet been resolved.

What it means for you

Shufersal's size doesn't make it cheap. Superclear's data places it around the national median, and even a touch above it — an identical basket can cost about 31% more there than at Israel's cheapest chain. The convenience of "the chain everyone knows" costs money. Before your next shop, it's worth checking how much — and where, near you, it's cheaper.

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