Group Mercadona adds new investment in Porto and creates another 60 jobs

This is the third opening of a Mercadona supermarket in Porto and it is located in Lordelo do Ouro. This Spanish supermarket chain not only brings investment job creation, shares environmental concerns and acts on behalf of solidarity values.

Following Boavista and Campanhã, the food retail leader in Spain, has settled another 1.900 square metres with the opening of another supermarket nearby Fluvial, in the Rua de Diogo Botelho.

The Mayor of Porto, who visited the place, stated that this is a laudable investment as “when we got to the City Hall, this was one of the most vulnerable areas in the city, with abandoned factories, and people living under miserable conditions”. And because it is one of the areas with a high population density, “it now offers quality equipment as this one”, besides being well-served as regards mobility.

According to Mercadona, 65 jobs were created, “stable and reliable, contracts of an indefinite duration since day one, thus contributing to the creation of local jobs.

Moreover, the Spanish food retailer group is also aware of what social responsivity means and so, this third supermarket store will donate essential goods to the Obra Diocesana de Promoção Social do Porto, which will enable to support circa two thousand people in an economic vulnerable situation.

The Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira affirmed that “this way of giving something back to the society is something that is, of course, appreciated by the Municipality of Porto, because we look for this type of partnerships to solve the problems that many people are experiencing, of those who cannot go shopping”.

It should be recalled that still this week, the Municipal Executive approved the granting of an extraordinary economic support of 100 thousand euros to keep the the Obra Diocesana do Porto after-school recreation centres running.

The new Mercadona supermarket shop will also include the Model of Efficient shop to the company by setting up 240 parking spaces, of which 10 are meant for charging electric vehicles.

In addition, the supermarket will take in the concept Loja 6.25, included in the Group’s strategy to reduce 25% of plastic by 2025. The Mercadona of Lordelo do Ouro uses reusable plastic containers.

The company’s environmental policy is aligned with the Municipality’s. Rui Moreira recalled that the 25% target was similar, but that the Municipality is now at a plastic reducing strategy of over 30%. “We have to use less plastic”, enhanced Rui Moreira, furthering that “there is a continued effort to raise awareness to the best practices” in the Municipality.

The first Mercadona supermarket store inaugurated in Porto in 2019, in Boavista, and created 85 jobs, hiring collaborators with contracts of an indefinite duration since day one, as well.

By the end of 2020, Mercadona invested in Campanhã, which “strengthened the development Plan of the Municipality of Porto” as stated by Rui Moreira. “Despite the harsh economic context, amid the pandemic, the city is still a place of choice for new investments”, the Mayor stated on that occasion.

Also on that occasion, the solidarity values demonstrated by the Spanish Food retailer Group helped supply the solidarity restaurants in Porto, which the Group had already done, in April last year, when they donated fresh products, as fruit, vegetables and meat to those solidarity restaurants.

The financial results presented in April this year, demonstrated that the first 20 supermarket stores in Portugal produced an annual turnover of approximately 186 million euros, following an investment of circa 113 million euros.