With this opening, the island’s population and visitors will be able to enjoy a range of differentiated services and a commercial space that responds to the most modern consumer trends.

The new store has a sales area of 1,245 m2, a shopping gallery with 3 stores covering 270 m2, a team of 72 employees, and 104 parking spaces.

The store includes a takeaway area with fresh food prepared daily, a coffee and cake area, a dining area with 89 seats including a terrace with a further 32 seats, as well as the traditional fruit and vegetable, bakery and pastry sections, fishmonger, butcher and delicatessen, frozen foods, dairy products, and the conventional non-perishables area, including drinks, wine cellar, grocery, drugstore, perfumery, bazaar, bookstore, petfood and a Wellness area selling non-prescription medicines.

The store’s assortment includes many regional products, the result of partnerships with 201 suppliers in the Azores, 23 of whom are from Pico Island. The items that stand out most with items from the region are fruit, cheese, milk, liqueurs, cookies, bread, honey, sweets, fish, beef, pork and poultry, cold meats, and sausages.

To reduce energy consumption and promote sustainability, the new store has refrigeration technology with non-fluorinated gases, efficient equipment, photovoltaic panels, thermal energy for water heating, materials that guarantee greater thermal insulation, and full LED lighting.

It also offers alternatives that allow for a more sustainable shopping experience. For example, it provides paper bags in the fruit and vegetable section, reusable bags, and trolleys. Customers can also take their own packaging and boxes to use in the deli or takeaway.

The Pingo Doce store in Madalena do Pico, like the stores in Santa Maria, Vila Franca, Valados, Capelas, Avenida, Ribeira Grande, Povoação, Livramento, São Gonçalo and Faial, is the result of a partnership between the Finançor Group and the Jerónimo Martins Group, which owns the Pingo Doce brand.

in Diário dos Açores, Osvaldo Cabral-director.

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.