ICELAND has opened the north’s first Food Warehouse outlet in Co Antrim, creating 30 jobs.
The frozen food group has invested £1 million in the 9,500 sq ft flagship store at Longwood Retail Park in Newtownabbey.
Launched just six years ago, The Food Warehouse chain has expanded rapidly, with 121 outlets now open across the UK.
The retail venture is based on the wholesale business model, but with no requirement for a membership.
Managing director of The Food Warehouse, Richard Walker said the pace of growth since 2014 had exceeded expectations within the Iceland Foods Group.
“Moving into Northern Ireland is a huge landmark for the business, as it continues to perform extremely well,” he said.
“We’re proud to work with local suppliers in Northern Ireland across our fresh, frozen and grocery products.”
“Fresh, frozen and ambient food deals are available to customers across more than 3,000 product lines in each store. The bulk offering is intended to offer consumers great value and small businesses easy to access, low cost supplies.
“It’s incredibly important to innovate and understand what their customers want, which is how The Food Warehouse came to be.
“As the future of the high street remains uncertain and more and more bricks-and-mortar stores lie empty, there’s a responsibility to the government, but also retailer, to rethink how they operate in the increasingly competitive grocery retail sector.”
Newtownabbey store manager, Stephen Nixon added: “Our opening has been a great success, is fantastic for the Newtownabbey area and the whole team has really enjoyed meeting people from our local community.”
