Carrefour-owned Dia is poised to shake up the convenience store sector in Spain by rapidly expanding its Dia Market fascia.

The retailer, which launched the format last year, plans to open a further 191 convenience stores this year, taking its Dia Market portfolio to 269.

The expansion means Dia Market will edge closer to rival Lidl – which owns 440 discount stores in Spain – and overtake Aldi, which owns 168.

Of the new stores, 146 will be conversions and 45 will be new openings.

“The Dia Market concept has been pretty successful so far,” said Planet Retail analyst Magali Dubreil. “It will now concentrate on the concept in the year ahead.”

The retailer also plans to sell 150 to 170 of its Dia discount shops. Last year, the retailer acquired Tengelmann’s Plus discount chain, but will close some of those that compete with its existing portfolio. “With the acquisition of Plus, Dia now covers the whole of Spain,” said Dubreil.

Last year, the retailer shut 240 of its smaller and least profitable stores. Its aim was to focus on increasing the number of its larger stores under the Maxi Dia banner from 222 by the end of 2007 to 400 by the end of this year.

In the year to December, Dia notched up an operating profit of 122 million (£97.1 million), an increase of 18.6 per cent on the same period last year.