MUMBAI, April 2 -- With just hours to spare on Tuesday evening, Avenue Supermarts Ltd, the parent company of value retailer D-Mart, announced a flurry of store openings across the country, ending the financial year with 500 stores. On Tuesday alone, the company added 12 stores across its stronghold of Maharashtra and Gujarat, and in newer regions where it is trying to build a stronger presence, including Tamil Nadu and Odisha. D-Mart opened 47 stores in March, a sharp increase from the 40-50 stores it typically has added annually over the past five years, according to its investor presentation. The company opened 85 stores in FY26, the highest number added in a financial year. Shares of Avenue Supermarts surged more than 8% in morning trade on Wednesday, while the benchmark Nifty 50 was up more than 2.5%. The change in pace is new for D-Mart, which traditionally opens new stores only after acquiring the land for it, generally through its subsidiary Nahar Seth & Jogani Developers Private Ltd. The company did not specify how many of the newly opened stores are leased or owned. A spokesperson for D-Mart did not reply to Mint's queries. Since its blockbuster listing in 2017, D-Mart has been trying to increase the pace of its store expansion by eschewing the buy-and-build model and leasing store space instead, including in malls. However, the business of supermarkets continues to be under pressure as grocery buying moves to quick-commerce platforms Zomato's Blinkit, Swiggy's Instamart and Zepto, especially in bigger cities. These platforms are also moving into tier-II and tier-III cities, and they are available in over 200 cities including Salem, Warangal, Haridwar and Ludhiana. D-Mart has expanded to these towns and cities as well. In March, it opened stores in cities including Dehradun, Cuddalore, Amritsar and Bareilly....