Spanish retailer Mercadona has opened a supermarket in Portugal with an integrated co-innovation centre, a first for the retailer in the country.
Located in Vila do Conde, the 1,900 square metre store features a delicatessen, fishmonger, pastry shop and bakery, perfume shop, butcher, fruit and vegetables and a range of ready-to-eat food items.
Efficient Store Model
The outlet has been designed according to Mercadona's Efficient Store Model, with spacious and comfortable aisles, a double-glazed entrance which prevents draughts.
The retailer ensures special attention to plastic reduction and waste management, as part of its Strategy 6.25 initiative, with a triple goal of reducing use by 25%, making all plastic packaging recyclable, and recycling all plastic waste generated in its facilities by 2025.
Co-Innovation Centre
The in-store co-innovation centre enables 'product specialists to be closer to customers to find out their habits and consumption preferences', the retailer said.
The 100 square metre space consists of a kitchen and a tasting room for carrying out blind tastings and developing innovative products.
It is Mercadona’s 26th outlet in Portugal and three more will be opened by the end of 2021, with the next planned for 11 November in Felgueiras (Porto).
Commenting on the new opening, Joana Ribeiro, Mercadona's regional director of external relations for the District of Porto, said, "It is with great satisfaction that we have arrived in a new municipality, this time in the beautiful city of Vila do Conde. [...] We couldn't be more satisfied with the local reception we received."
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest Retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
