Mercadona, a company with physical and online supermarkets, this afternoon received a visit of the President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, to meet him in person and provide him with the details of the Mercadona project in Portugal.

The visit took place at the supermarket in Canidelo in Vila Nova de Gaia, which opened its doors to the public on Tuesday, July 2. During its first week, the store saw a large influx of "bosses" (customers). The visit was also attended by the President of the Vila Nova de Gaia Municipal Council, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, and the President of the Canidelo Parish Council, María José Gamboa.

Juan Roig, President of Mercadona, thanked the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, for his visit to the Canidelo supermarket and stressed that "the opening of this supermarket in our brother country and next-door neighbour, Portugal, is a historic landmark for the company". He also thanked all supermarket employees for the great job they are doing to offer excellent service to the "bosses" (customers).

During the visit, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was surprised by the investment made by the company in such a short time, referring to the work carried out and the prospect of opening more stores over the next few years.

Mercadona in Portugal

Since announcing its entry into Portugal in 2016, the company's premise has always been: "To be a Portuguese company with the Total Quality Model of Spanish origin based in Valencia; but in Portugal, we are Portuguese". The first important step was the creation of the company Irmãdona Supermercados S.A., with fiscal domicile in Portugal. The company is headquartered in Oporto, where the central offices are located, in addition to those that already exist in Lisbon.

In 2019, Mercadona plans to invest 100 million euros in its project in Portugal, to which are added the more than 160 million euros invested so far. The total investment of the company project will exceed 260 million euros since its entry into Portugal was announced in 2016. The investment is allocated mainly to the construction of supermarkets; a logistics centre located in Póvoa de Varzim (Oporto), recently completed on a parcel of more than 50,000 m2 and with two 12,000 m2 buildings, which will carry out logistics activity in Portugal; and the development of a CoInnovation Centre located in Matosinhos, a large Idea Laboratory of 1,000 m2 that helps the Mercadona team define, together with Portuguese customers, the selection of products in Portugal, fully adapted to the needs of this market. At this centre, the work teams study in detail the likes and consumption habits of the Portuguese "bosses".

Additionally, Mercadona, for whom suppliers are very, very, very important, has been collaborating with 300 Portuguese suppliers for years. Consequently, it has made purchases of 203 million euros since it announced its project in 2016, with anticipated purchases of more than 90 million euros in 2019. Likewise, the company, with a current workforce of 900 Portuguese employees, plans to reach 1,100 in 2019, continuing with the recruitment processes for all the job positions initially projected.

Header image: President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of Mercadona, Juan Roig, Members of the Mercadona Management Committee, and other members of the Mercadona team.