'Tienda 9': así son los nuevos Mercadona

Mercadona, Spain's leading supermarket chain by market share, is advancing with one of its most ambitious plans for the coming years: the implementation of its new store model, dubbed "Tienda 9" internally. The company began the year by opening the first stores under this model, designed as an improvement over the previous "Tienda 8" model and a step towards the company's vision of excellence.

Speaking at a press conference in 2017, Mercadona's CEO, Juan Roig, revealed that the goal is to have 10 new stores, but for now, they are starting with the "Tienda 8" model.

The plan is to dedicate the next eight fiscal years to transforming all existing stores. Mercadona intends to invest 3.7 billion euros between 2026 and 2033 to open stores under the new "Tienda 9" model, which made its debut in Xirivella, Valencia, in 2025. The transformation is evident to the customer from the moment they enter the store.

The main change is that the store is now organized by processes instead of businesses, giving fresh products more space and providing a quicker and simpler shopping experience for customers. This model optimizes processes such as cutting, cooking, and packaging, unifying them in a single area called the "central butcher," which saves 10% in energy and 40% in water. The "central butcher" is one of the most significant areas in the new stores, where all fresh product preparation zones converge, ready for sale.

In the recently inaugurated store in Madrid's Chamberí neighborhood (Joaquín María López, 7), Mercadona opted for a notable space dedicated to tables for local consumption, featuring a dozen of them, as well as microwaves and a takeaway coffee service, which they define as a "relaxation zone" for customers. The company has eliminated the traditional seafood counter to offer fish and prepared products in trays, as well as the charcuterie counter, freeing up more space for these items in the self-service section.

In stores under the new model, Mercadona provides more space for fresh products and groups all refrigerated and frozen products together. These changes, according to Mercadona, favor employee activity by reducing commute times and improving team coordination.

In terms of innovation, the new store features a range of electronic devices and collaborative tools that facilitate self-management of the supermarket, optimize decision-making, and streamline processes throughout the chain. Additionally, the company is updating technical rooms and equipment to make the facilities more sustainable.

Over half a century, Mercadona has accelerated the transformation of its stores into this model. So far this year, the company has opened 26 stores under the "Tienda 9" model, located in Barcelona, Bilbao, Alicante, Murcia, Sevilla, Zaragoza, Tarragona, Baleares, Girona, León, Las Palmas, Madrid, Valencia, Lleida, Málaga, Granada, Salamanca, Segovia, A Coruña, and Guadalajara.

The company aims to complete 59 stores under the new model by the end of the year and continue expanding that number progressively until all stores are transformed. By the end of the last fiscal year, Mercadona had transformed 1,482 stores, bringing the total number of stores to 1,672.