Expansion
Iceland was one of the many major retailers who took advantage of the Enterprise Zone incentives offered by the giant Merry Hill Shopping Centre which was developed at Brierley Hill in the West Midlands between 1985 and 1990. It opened a store there in 1989, relocating from Dudley town centre, only for this store to close a decade or so later.
In 1996, six stores were opened in Dublin and one in Letterkenny. They all closed down in 2005 owing to financial difficulties. In November 2008, a store reopened in Ballyfermot in Dublin, after Iceland agreed a franchise deal with an Irish cash and carry company, AIM, and in November 2009 a second store reopened in Finglas, Dublin. A third opened on the Navan Road in September 2010. A fourth store opened in the Ilac Centre in Dublin in November 2010. There are now five Iceland stores in Ireland. In November 2010 AIM announced plans to launch 40 new stores within 4 years.
Since Malcolm Walker's return to the company, Iceland has reduced the workforce by 500 jobs at the Deeside Head Office, with approximately 300 jobs moved in September as a result of a relocation of a distribution warehouse from Deeside to Warrington. During July 2006, 300 workers took industrial action with the support of their union, blocking several lorries from entering the depot. Despite this, the transfer to Warrington took place and the new warehouse was later outsourced to DHL in April 2007.
In January 2009, Iceland announced that it would buy 51 stores in the UK from the failed Woolworths Group chain, three days after the final 200 Woolworths stores closed their doors for the last time.
In April 2009, Iceland announced plans to close its appliance showrooms by September 2009 to concentrate on food retailing
Iceland's sales for the year ended 27 March 2009 were £2.08 billion, a 16% increase on the previous year, with net profits of £113.7 million.
In 2010, the company began opening stores outside the United Kingdom and Ireland, in Eastern Europe.
An additional Iceland store opened in Dudley town centre on 2 December 2010 in part of the former Beatties department store, 21 years after store's closure.
Iceland also operates a number of stores in Spain and Portugal, in conjunction with Spanish-based retailer Overseas. The stores stock Iceland products as well as Waitrose's.
Read more about this topic: Iceland (supermarket)
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