Opening of the first Mercadona store in Portugal

Mercadona opens its first store in Portugal

01 july 2019
  • The new supermarket is located in the city of Vila Nova de Gaia (Oporto district) and, before the end of the year, the company plans to open a total of ten stores in Portugal, located in the Oporto, Braga and Aveiro districts.
  • Juan Roig and Hortensia Herrero, President and Vice-President of Mercadona, together with the other members of the Board of Directors and different Portuguese authorities, visited the facilities this afternoon to explain in person the company's internationalization project
  • The company currently has 900 Portuguese workers and plans to reach 1,100 employees in 2019. There are also plans to invest more than 100 million euros during this year.
  • From 2016 to 2018, the company has invested more than 160 million euros, mainly for the construction of supermarkets, a logistics centre in Póvoa de Varzim, the Porto and Lisbon offices and the co-innovation centre located in Matosinhos.

Mercadona, a supermarket and online sales company, opens its first store in Portugal tomorrow, specifically in the Canidelo area, in Vila Nova de Gaia (Oporto district).

Today's institutional visit to these facilities was attended on behalf of Mercadona by the President, Juan Roig, and the Vice-President, Hortensia Herrero, along with the rest of the members of Company's Board of Directors and Steering Committee. All these have been accompanied by, among others, Portugal’s Secretary of State for Agriculture and Food, Luis Medeiros Vieira, Secretary of State for the Defence of the Consumer, João Torres and the President of Vila Nova de Gaia Town Chamber of Commerce, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, who have been able to see the supermarket chain's internationalization project in person.

Juan Roig has assessed that “today is a historic day for Mercadona, because we have realized our dream of internationalizing the company in a neighbouring country with whom we have important emotional and cultural ties, such as Portugal. On behalf of all of us who make up Mercadona, I would like to thank Portugal for the support received in making this business milestone a reality in a country that has welcomed us from the first day with open arms, and which is an example of modernity and innovation. Today is the beginning of a shared project to build wealth and progress in this sister country.”

On the other hand, the president of the Vila Nova de Gaia Chamber of Commerce, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, has welcomed the company and highlighted: “It’s a great honour to see Vila Nova de Gaia host the opening in Portugal of the first Mercadona store, the largest Spanish supermarket chain. This is the culmination of a process that has involved a lot of joint work, involving not only the company, but also the City Council, Candelo Parish Council and the Canidelo Sports Club which, thanks to this project can now enjoy a new stadium and better conditions for sporting activities. This opening is also highly important because it is a company that is strongly committed to social responsibility, something that we highly value, and for providing the people of Gaia with more modern shopping facilities. We are, therefore, grateful to Mercadona for giving priority to its launch in Portugal through Gaia, for valuing the economic interest of this region and contributing to the creation of employment.”

With this opening, the company’s internationalization project has begun, representing an investment of more than 160 million euros to date. This is mainly for the construction of supermarkets, a logistics centre located in Póvoa de Varzim (Oporto), its offices located in Porto and Lisbon, and a Co-Innovation Centre in Matosinhos (Oporto), where co-innovation sessions with Portuguese customers are held to develop a range of products adapted to their tastes. With the aim of continuing to create wealth and progress in Portugal, Mercadona plans to invest more than 100 million euros in 2019 in that country. This means that the overall investment of the Mercadona Portugal project would exceed 260 million euros since it announced its entry into Portugal in 2016.

In addition, Mercadona, for whom the figure of the supplier is highly important, has worked with 300 Portuguese suppliers for years. In this context, it has made purchases worth 203 million euros since announcing its project, with plans for purchases in 2019 worth more than 90 million euros. Similarly, the company, which currently has a workforce of 900 Portuguese workers, plans to reach 1,100 in 2019.

Mercadona's first supermarket in Portugal, to which another nine will be added during the current year, is located in the former facilities of the Manoel Marques Gomes Football Ground, and is also the first Mercadona Social Responsibility project in the country. As a result of the collaboration agreement reached between the company and the City Council of Gaia, the Candelo Parish Council and Candelo Sports Club, Mercadona built in 2018 a totally new stadium. This means better facilities for the development of sports education for children and young people, and the company used land adjoining the old football ground to locate its current and first store.

With a surface sales area of 1,800 square metres, the Canidelo store is designed according to new Efficient Store Model that the company is progressively implementing in its establishments in Spain. This marks a strengthening of service excellence and the optimizing of its customers’ act of purchase.  It is a new supermarket concept that reduces energy consumption by up to 40% compared to a conventional store.

After the opening tomorrow, the store in Matosinhos (Oporto) will follow on July 9th. It will be located in the former Vasco da Gama Canning Factory, a historic building. In its day, the company undertook to maintain the original appearance of the building, preserving its centennial history and its unique architectural framework. It has restored the original facade of the main entrance, the seal and the interior fireplace. This abandoned building has been given a new lease of life thanks to Mercadona and will revitalize an industrial area of ​​Matosinhos. After this, the store located in Maia will be opened on July 16th and the one located in Gondomar on the 23rd; they are all located in the Porto district.

Project Mercadona

Mercadona is a supermarket and online sales company operating in Spain and Portugal. With a workforce of 87,000 people, 900 of them in Portugal, in 2018 it achieved sales of 24,305 million euros after registering an increase of 6% compared to the previous year. The company made a record investment of 1,504 million euros in 2018 and achieved a net profit of 593 million euros. In addition, through its shared growth policy, it has distributed a total of 325 million euros among its staff with target-based bonuses.

Main details of Mercadona in PortugalMain details of Mercadona in Portugal.

Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, President of Vila Nova de Gaia Chamber of Commerce; Pedro Siza Vieira; Deputy Chancellor; and Juan Roig, President of Mercadona; during the institutional visit held at the first Mercadona store in PortugalEduardo Vítor Rodrigues, President of Vila Nova de Gaia Chamber of Commerce; Pedro Siza Vieira; Deputy Chancellor; and Juan Roig, President of Mercadona; during the institutional visit held at the first Mercadona store in Portugal.

Juan Roig, President of Mercadona; Pedro Siza Vieira; Deputy Chancellor; and Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, President of Vila Nova de Gaia Chamber of Commerce; in the Juan Roig, President of Mercadona; Pedro Siza Vieira; Deputy Chancellor; and Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, President of Vila Nova de Gaia Chamber of Commerce; in the "Ready to Eat" section of the Canidelo store, Vila Nova de Gaia (Oporto).

Pedro Siza Vieira; Deputy Chancellor; Luís Medeiros Vieira, Secretary of State for Agriculture and Food; President of Vila Nova de Gaia Chamber of Commerce; and Juan Roig, President of MercadonaPedro Siza Vieira; Deputy Chancellor; Luís Medeiros Vieira, Secretary of State for Agriculture and Food; President of Vila Nova de Gaia Chamber of Commerce; and Juan Roig, President of Mercadona.

Exterior of the first Mercadona store in Portugal in Vila Nova de Gaia (Porto district)Exterior of the first Mercadona store in Portugal in Vila Nova de Gaia (Porto district).