Bargain hunters in for a treat

BARGAIN hunters can look forward to the opening of 50 €2 euro stores across the country as well as 15 Home Saver stores over the next four years.

This is part of a major expansion which will see more than 2,000 jobs created by the AIM Group, the company that holds the franchise for retailer Iceland in Ireland.

They plan to open 40 Iceland stores over the next four years, which will create 1,400 jobs. The €2 euro store openings will create 250 jobs and 525 jobs will be created at the Home Savers outlets, which is a discount chain of homeware stores.

AIM Group chief executive Tom Keogh said the company is “aggressively looking” for sites across Ireland to roll out its expansion programme.

“We have a well-funded aggressive roll-out programme of retail stores for the next four years. We are committed to using Irish suppliers throughout our expansion programme.

“Iceland spends over £50 million in Ireland on quality Irish produce, such as, milk, bread, meat and poultry. We are very committed to spending more in Ireland and we want to increase this value in the weeks ahead,” he said.

The AIM Group was founded by Naeem Maniar, an Irish-based Indian businessman in 1990. It took over the Iceland franchise when the supermarket chain left Ireland in 2005.

Iceland’s primary product lines include frozen foods, such as prepared meals and frozen vegetables. It is famous for its sponsorship of reality television show, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. It also had hired Kerry Katona as the face of the company for a number of years before dropping her last year.

Iceland’s British buying director, Nigel Broadhurst, said the company is “absolutely delighted” with this latest development in its franchise partnership with the AIM group.

“Not only is it good news in terms of the development of the Iceland business in Ireland but it also signals the start of much bigger things for the future. We are keen to develop strong relationships with food manufacturers in Ireland and would welcome the opportunity to review relationships with potential big volume suppliers,” he said.

Also yesterday, recruitment firm Sigmar said it was creating 40 new jobs.

The move will bring the company’s workforce to more than 100, close to the number it employed before the recession.

Sigmar chief executive Adrian McGennis said: “Despite all the seeming industry negativity, the reality on the ground is we are making it work and things are definitely picking up both at home an in our international offices.”