Four years after entering Colombia, Portuguese retail group Jerónimo Martins has opened its first cash & carry store in the Latin American country.
The store, called Bodega del Canasto, is located on the border with Venezuela, in Cúcuta, reported Portuguese news agency Lusa.
Jerónimo Martins did not disclose the amount invested in the opening of the new unit.
The Portuguese company inaugurated the first Ara supermarket in Colombia in 2013.
At the end of last year, the group had 221 stores and three distribution centers in the Colombian market and employed 3,100 people. The accumulated investment in Colombia between 2012 and 2016 amounted to €180 million.
In 2016, Ara recorded sales of €236 million, which had more than doubled (in local currency) from the previous year.
The Colombian division will keep optimising personnel and logistics to prepare for expansion, and is expected to open at least 150 new stores in 2017.
Jerónimo Martins group sales reached €14.6 billion in 2016, 6.5% over 2015 (taking currency fluctuations into account).
© 2017 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
