Covirán has opened its first store outside the Iberian Peninsula. The Spanish supermarket cooperative has opened a new 180m² store in Espargos, Cape Verde with a local partner. The new store will be supplied from Covirán’s distribution hub in Sintra, Portugal.
For almost a decade, Covirán has talked about entering Morocco as its first African market, and was close to opening two pilot stores in early 2018. This new store is part of a planned expansion of between 125 and 150 stores in 2019 – most of which are in Spain. Covirán has opened 16 stores in Portugal in H1 2019 (and refurbished a further 14). It will open a further 10 stores in Portugal in H2 2019.
The new 180m² store is in Espargos, the capital is commercial centre of the island of Sal, Cape Verde. It has a population of over 20,000. The store has an a bakery, cold counters for cheese and meat, a frozen food section and fresh fruit and vegetables. It will be supplied weekly by sea from Covirán’s distribution hub in Sintra, Portugal. It is anticipated that Covirán’s partner will open a network of small stores across Sal.
We understand that Covirán is looking to use Cape Verde as a test market ahead of possible expansion into other Portuguese speaking markets in Africa: Angola, Guinea Bissau and Mozambique. If so, it faces a major challenge: Angola already has a strong national network of convenience stores (Bem Me Quer), while more retailers are currently closing in Mozambique than opening.
Covirán has 3,034 stores in Spain, with a combined sales area of 461,006m2, and a further 283 supermarkets in Portugal (which we estimate account for a further 43,500m2). In 2018 it achieved revenues of €1.37bn ($1.53bn). It is the second largest supermarket retailer in Spain by store numbers and ranked ninth by floorspace.
In 2017, Covirán had 2,900 stores in Spain and a further 300 in Portugal, with a combined sales area of 477,957m² of floorspace (145m² per store). It achieved revenues of €1.34bn ($1.65bn) in 2017, 91% of which came from its stores in Spain. The remaining 9% came from its 300 stores in Portugal.