BRITS in Murcia who miss their favourite products from home can now pop into 'Tesco' without catching a plane – a completely UK-style supermarket has just opened on the region's coast.
All staff at Food Co. in Mazarrón Port speak English, all produce labels and signs in the aisles are 100% in English, and all items on sale are imported from branches of Tesco.
Mindful of the fact that locals also use British-run supermarkets in Spain's expat and tourist belts – especially if they have British friends who have introduced them to produce they will not have found in mainstream stores – some staff in Food Co. will be Spanish-speakers, either Brits who are fluent in the language or Spaniards who are confident enough in English to attend to customers.
Those who speak Spanish will wear a badge displaying this.
Additionally, aisle signs are translated into Spanish in smaller font beneath the main English indications and, in accordance with national law, food items also bear labels in Spanish.
But the main language of the store is English, since it is aimed at serving tourists as much as expats, given that the latter – even if their Spanish is limited – have enough experience of mainstream supermarkets in Spain that they do not need translations of 'bread', 'fruit', 'ice-cream' and so on.
Food Co. is the latest brainchild of Wigan-based company Overseas Imports, whose Spanish head office is in Benissa (Alicante province), which already runs a series of supermarkets on the south and east coast and in the Canary Islands.
What used to be Iceland stores are now branded as 'Overseas', but still stock Iceland food as before and are often referred to as such by customers.
One of these is in Benissa, another in Jávea just a few kilometres north, and another 23 are trading on the Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, the coast of the province of Almería and the Murcia Region, and even in Portugal, says Overseas Imports manager Bryn Robertson.
The firm has recently struck a deal with Tesco to retail its food in Spain, in the shape of Food Co., and at present holds exclusive rights to do so on Spanish soil.
This means Iceland and Tesco own-branded products can now be found in 26 stores, as well as national brands such as HP, Campbell's soup, John Smith's, Cadbury's, Strongbow, Walker's, and more.
Overseas Imports manages to keep its shipping costs down by taking advantage of the fact that fruit and vegetable lorries transporting goods from Spain to the UK would normally return empty – but instead, now, stop off in Wigan to collect supplies for Food Co. and other Overseas stores.
