New Food Co opens

‘It’s about time another supermarket came in’, said another, simply hoping that there would be home products like beddings. For some, the convenience of a nearby supermarket was the most attractive feature of the store, and for others, the prospect of more competition and therefore fairer market prices were their primary point of enthusiasm.

Crowds cheered as Chief Minister Fabian Picardo officially opened the store to the public. Inside staff were already busy attending to customers and standing ready at the tills.

One employee said: ‘I feel it’s great for Gibraltar to have another super market opening. Something that’s going to be a big difference in a different area which will grab people from different areas in Gibraltar to come; and hopefully it will become a good store where people will come and enjoy the products of our company’. Another employee, June, was proud of the work done after Covid-19 delayed the project. ‘It’s been a lot of hard work but we got there eventually. It’s just so lovely to work for the company and welcome all the people of Gibraltar into our store’.

The PANORAMA also interviewed head staff who were themselves incredibly excited for the store to be finally opened. ‘We’ve got a great location, a great team ready to serve everybody’. Building restrictions and suppliers not being able to meet demands were but a few of the challenges that their team had to face in battling the Covd-19 pandemic. ‘We put it back a little bit’, they said, ‘but we got there in the end’.

They told us more about the store, saying ‘the range is fantastic. We’ve got a fantastic range of TESCO products, home brand labels – absolutely amazing. The chilled range is fantastic – ready meals we know were really really popular. For the guys who work in the offices, World Trade Centre, we’ve got the meal deals, food to go, fantastic fruit and veg sourced locally, a great range of confectionary for those who have a bit of a sweet tooth. So we got some familiar brands up that people might not have seen for a while. We’re trying to offer a nice clean and tidy store well stocked any everyone here will help you’. The Food Co as of yet aren’t going to invest in self-checkout counters, but the possibility is always there. ‘It’s an interesting question. Some of our checkouts do look like self scan checkouts, so maybe in the future they can be converted’.

Finally, the Chief Minister had this to say: ‘It’s my pleasure to see an investment of this sort in Gibraltar which is not just going to create jobs – almost 30 jobs created and in addition to the offering of British produce that’s going to available to Gibraltar which I think is part of what defines us. We don’t just feel British; we eat British too’.

26-06-2020 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR