Gros Mercat will invest 10 million in Mercabarna

Mercabarna will once again have a cash & carry center to serve the restoration sector. After Makro decided in 2017 to close its store in the central market of Barcelona to move to another location within the Zona Franca industrial estate, now Gros Mercat will open an establishment of these characteristics in the complex. The project will involve an investment of ten million euros and will allow the creation of 40 jobs.

The new Gros Mercat will be built on a 10,113 square meter plot located in the space occupied by the old Mercabarna slaughterhouse, which closed in 2020. The store will market 11,400 product references and will have a sales area of 2,715 square meters and 60 parking spaces. Since 2021, Gros Mercat belongs to the Swiss group Transgourmet, which bought the former GM Food, previously known as Miquel Alimentació.

Two logistics companies are also planned to be located on the grounds of the old slaughterhouse. In addition, Mercabarna will build two of its own buildings on the plot: one for small warehouses for companies operating in the central market and another multi-purpose building that will house a sand box or testing ground for startups.

''Mercabarna needed a center of these characteristics so that companies in the restoration sector that supply themselves in the central markets can complete their purchases with all kinds of dry food products, cellar products and all those that are necessary to carry out their activity,'' says the president of Mercabarna, Montserrat Ballarín.

Transgourmet Ibérica, directed by Lluís Labairu, has a network of 70 cash & carry centers with the brands Gros Mercat and GM Cash, 24 of which are in Catalonia. In parallel, the company based in Vilamalla (Girona), owns more than 800 franchised supermarkets under the brands Suma, Proxim and Spar. The Swiss group is considered the second largest wholesale company in Europe.