Retailer to take on 2,000 staff in roll-out
An announcement is expected today detailing Iceland’s massive project across Ireland. It already has four outlets in Dublin.
The AIM Group, which employs 150 people, holds the master franchise for Iceland Foods in Ireland.
The company also runs the 2 Euro chain of thrift shops.
It is understood to be investing €30 million in this Irish expansion of Iceland stores.
The company is on the lookout for sites across the country to locate the 105 stores it plans to open over the next four years.
It is also looking for Irish suppliers to stock the stores.
AIM Group took over the Iceland franchise when the supermarket chain left Ireland in 2005.
Iceland had seven outlets in Ireland at the time, six in Dublin and another in Letterkenny, Co Donegal.
When it pulled out of Ireland in 2005 it gave its 160 staff just 24 hours’ notice of the closure along with a promise to pay them once all stock had been cleared.
The company said at the time its operations in Ireland were losing money and it could not afford to sustain the losses any longer.
Iceland is owned by the Icelandic retail conglomerate Baugur.
Its primary product lines include frozen foods, such as frozen prepared meals and frozen vegetables.
The company has around a 2% share of the British food market. It is famous for its sponsorship of reality television show I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.
It also had hired actress and singer Kerry Katona as the face of the company for a number of years before dropping her last year.
The supermarket, which is 40 years in operation, has also used TV presenter Coleen Nolan in adverts.
Consumers have enjoyed the benefits of supermarket competition as the country battles it way out of the economic downturn.
Tesco and Dunnes have been battling to win customers from low-cost retailers Aldi and Lidl, which have both managed to win customers as the recession gripped.
Tesco has continued to open stores across Ireland this year, creating hundreds of jobs.
Last week it opened its latest store, a Tesco Extra in Naas, Co Kildare, where it created 266 jobs.
During that opening, the supermarket giant’s chief executive Terry Keohane said the company was determined to develop its business by investing €113m and creating 748 jobs across the country.
Meanwhile, Marks and Spencer will open a store at the Douglas Village Shopping Centre in Cork on November 25, creating 100 jobs.
More than 6,000 people are understood to have applied for the jobs at the store.
The 15,000sq ft M&S store will sell both fashion and food, carrying top international and Irish brands.
An 80-seat cafe will also form part of the new premises.
