Retail giant Iceland set to create 25 new jobs in Galway

British food giant Iceland is set to create around 25 new jobs when it opens a new supermarket in Doughiska later this year.

The retailer – which specialises is discount chilled and frozen foods – will open in a 16,500 square foot premises in the Merlin Commercial Park in May.

It will occupy a unit near the NCT testing centre which was formerly occupied by German discount retailer Lidl. It shares a 157-space carpark with the Doughiska Primary Health Care Centre.

The premises had been let to Lidl on a 25-year lease from 2008 at a rent of €430,000 per annum, and there was a break clause in the contract last year, when the building was one of a series in the commercial park to be put up for sale and bought prior to auction..

The Galway store is one of three new outlets which will open in Ireland this year, employing an additional 75 people.

Iceland specialises in frozen and chilled foods including ready-made meals, meat, fish and desserts, although it also sells items like tinned goods, cereals, pastas, cooking ingredients, jams and long-life milk, soft drinks, energy drinks and alcohol. Outlets usually also stock a small amount of items such as shower gels, toothpaste, tissues and pet food.

The company operates more than 800 stores in the UK alone, with further outlets in the likes of Spain, Jersey and the Czech Republic.