No 965 Monday 3rd - Sunday 9th April 2023
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Now in our 20th year of keeping people safe and informed - The Costa Blanca’s oldest ‘FREE’ English language newspaper
fter 15 years serving the local community, one of the largest British companies in Spain, Overseas Imports S.L., has made the decision to close their Torrevieja
A FLAGSHIP BRITISH STORE CLO SING DOWN IN TORREV I E J A store.
Overseas Supermarket, commonly referred to as “Iceland”, will close for good on 15 April at 6:00 p.m. The company points out in response to a question on their Facebook page, they have “no plans to close any of our other stores”. The Leader contacted Overseas for an official statement, and to ask what is happening to the staff, but the company failed to respond, so the Leader spoke to staff at the store on Friday. Although the mood was largely upbeat, the staff members we spoke to blame the management for their lack of foresight, as they are of the belief that the decline in trade in the Torrevieja store is down to the opening of other shops in the surrounding areas, and whereas the residents of other municipalities used to flock to Torrevieja in the past, once they had a closer store, the fall in footfall began, with the Torrevieja store left to serve a declining population. Generally speaking, the staff are being relocated to other stores, they explained, although some are embarking on new work projects, the staff are all aware of their immediate futures, and although not happy, are unable to change the decision which they have no choice but to accept. Overseas Imports started trading in the late 90s in Tenerife, and in July 2008, they opened what was their largest shop to date, with nearly 100 freezers, in Torrevieja. In recent months, the company reduced the physical size of the store by removing a number of aisles. For Torrevieja to lose such a landmark store is another blow for the town that has shown a considerable decline in it’s British population.
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