Mercadona is opening its first supermarket in the Algarve this Thursday, October 15, at the Nova Vila Retail Park in Portimão. It’s another step in an expansion that began seven years ago in the north of the country and took much longer than expected to reach the capital.
2019: The Launch in Gaia
The first store in Portugal opened on July 2, 2019, in Canidelo, Vila Nova de Gaia. The plan for that year called for ten supermarkets, all in the north, and three more openings were scheduled for July alone—in Matosinhos, Maia, and Gondomar—one per week, according to Notícias ao Minuto.
On opening day, the company’s president, Juan Roig, said he expected to be in Lisbon within two years, according to ECO.
The Long Wait for Lisbon
The supermarkets began opening first on the outskirts of the capital: in July 2023, for example, the Massamá store opened in Sintra, the 42nd in the country, according to Echo Boomer.
Within the city of Lisbon, however, the first store didn’t open until November 13, 2025, in Alta de Lisboa—more than six years after the first store in Gaia. It was already the ninth supermarket in the district, according to Idealista. The second store in the capital opened in early 2026, at Quinta do Lambert, in Lumiar.
Seven years later
By September, Mercadona had 76 supermarkets in Portugal, and by the end of 2025, it employed about 7,500 people in the country, according to Notícias ao Minuto. For this year, it plans to invest 150 million euros in Portugal, reported Executive Digest.
After Portimão, which is open from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. (except on holidays), Amarante will follow on October 22, and the chain plans to open a store in Faro in November.
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