Brazilian retailer GPA has rolled out Pão de Açúcar Fresh, a neighbourhood store format specialising in fresh food, perishables and healthy items.
The new banner joins the group’s other banners – Pão de Açúcar, Mercado Extra, Minuto Pão de Açúcar, Pão de Açúcar Adega and Mini Extra.
The first Pão de Açúcar Fresh has opened in São Caetano do Sul, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo.
It offers a range of specialised services, including fruits, vegetables and greens, butchery, fishmonger, sushi, bakery and cold cuts and cheese counter, as well as basic groceries such as breakfast items, olive oils, pasta and wines.
The product portfolio, comprising approximately 5,500 SKUs, also includes ready to eat fruit and vegetable options.
Customers can also order their grocery shopping via delivery apps and WhatsApp, while the shop will offer home deliveries within a radius of up to 5 kilometres.
The stores are of an intermediate size, spanning 400-700 square metres. Standard Pão de Açúcar supermarkets occupy 1,000 square metres and the smallest format, Pão de Açúcar Minuto is spread across 200 square metres.
Expansion Plans
The group expects to open a second shop in the state by the end of 2021, expanding to around 15-20 outlets during 2022 in cities where GPA already operates.
The launch comes just weeks after GPA gave up on the hypermarket segment, selling 71 Extra Hiper shops to wholesaler Assaí, owned by France's Casino, which is also a controlling stakeholder of GPA.
GPA plans to use around 1.2 billion reais (€184.1 million) of the 5.2 billion reais (€797.8 million) from the sale to finance the expansion of its three store banners.
This includes the opening of over 100 Pão de Açúcar and around 100 Pão de Açúcar Minuto stores by 2024, in addition to the refurbishment of more than 135 stores.
© 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