Tesco has opened its latest store on the Isle of Man this morning.

The former Shoprite supermarket located in Michael Street, Peel threw open its doors as a Tesco Express for the very first time this morning at 8am.

The Peel Express is the fifth of nine new stores set to open on the island this year after Tesco bought Shoprite at the end of 2023.

To mark the store’s grand opening today, Tesco has donated £1,000 to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), a lifesaving charity which is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year.

The new supermarket includes a clothes section as well as a Costa coffee machine and four self service checkouts.

The site was originally set to house an ATM machine.

However, due to space constraints, that cash machine will now be outside the Derby Road store when it opens in late August.

Store Director Andy Sanderson said: ‘It’s really important for us to open this store.

‘We love Peel, it’s a great town, it’s got a great beach and Davisons is the home of ice cream on the island.

‘I know customers really want a Tesco store and we’re really proud to be here in our fifth store.

‘We couldn’t fit an ATM in this store unfortunately as it’s a much smaller store but we do have a cash back offer, so if customers need up to £50 we can get them out at the till.

‘However in the large store there’s a car park open 24 hours seven days a week that will have an ATM and gives people a bit more flexibility.’

Tesco’s purchase of Shoprite brought to an end 51 years of trading for the island supermarket chain which was launched in 1972 by the Nicholson family.

Until the sale was announced last October, Shoprite was the biggest independently owned food chain on the Isle of Man.

Mr Sanderson said the opening of the Peel Express was a ‘proud day’ for Tesco.

‘It’s been great this morning, we’ve had a few customers come and say hello and have a look around and it sounds like they’re really pleased with what they’ve got’ he said.

‘We’ve put a lot more choice and a lot more local products in the store and a bigger fresh food offer that we know customers really value so we’re really pleased.’ Tesco has been serving customers on the Isle of Man since 2000 when it opened its flagship store in Douglas.

Over the last seven years, Tesco’s customers on the Isle of Man have helped to nominate worthy recipients of grants totaling £217,504 for 109 groups and good causes through its blue token voting scheme, Stronger Starts.