Iceland Foods has expanded its partnership with Dunnes Stores in Ireland to include concessions.
Concessions stocking a selection of more than 200 of Iceland’s own label products have been added to two Dunnes stores, at The Square Tallaght and Point Village, in Dublin.
Iceland already supplied around 80 Dunnes stores with a selection of its exclusive partner brands, but the two new concessions are the first Dunnes stores that will be supplied with Iceland’s own label products.
The expansion is the first major announcement by Iceland following the company’s controversial exit from the Irish market in 2023. Iceland Foods sold its 26 Irish stores to former long-term franchise partner Project Point Technologies in February 2023.
Shortly afterwards, Project Point – which was renamed Metron Stores – entered examinership over its inability to pay €36 million debts incurred by the shops. In June 2023 it was also slapped with an import ban and recall notice by the Irish Food Safety board over concerns over traceability. It left thousands of pounds worth of food to rotting in ports Liverpool and Dublin, before the recall notice was lifted in August.
At the time, Iceland executive chairman Richard Walker told The Grocer the struggles of the Irish business had come as a “total shock”. However, Metron Stores owner Naeem Maniar accused the business of sweeping “away” assets ahead of the sale, which had left the franchise business unsustainable, reported Irish news site The Journal.
Iceland strenuously denied those claims, and was eventually awarded legal costs by an Irish court in relation to defending the examinership claim, The Journal reported.
Metron was liquidated in September 2023, leading to the closure of all Iceland stores in the country, per The Journal. Iceland Foods’ company-owned shops in Northern Ireland were unaffected.
The new partnership with Dunnes would see a range of cupboard staples, as well as products from Iceland’s exclusive brand partnerships with Sides, Greggs and Slimming World added to the existing exclusive lines already stocked.
Iceland supplies several international suppliers, in countries including Spain and Iceland, through its wholesale business Iceland International. It also supplies The Range and now Wilko stores, through a wide-ranging concessions partnership with CDS Retail.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Dunnes Stores to give Irish customers the opportunity to shop our incredible deals across a range of everyday products, and our Iceland exclusive brands that have proven a hit with our UK customers,” said Justin Addison, Iceland Foods international and partnerships director.
“Customers can enjoy a variety of big-name brands at affordable prices.”
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