The Shoprite store in Ramsey will close later this month as it becomes the latest to be transformed into a new Tesco outlet.

The store in Bowring Road in the town will become the seventh Shoprite venue to be rebranded and follows the switch of the smaller Shoprite in the town’s St Paul’s Square which became a Tesco earlier this year.

Other the refurbishments of outlets have taken place in Castletown, Douglas, Port Erin and Peel while the Shoprite in Onchan will also close this weekend as it undergoes a similar revamp.

Shoprite says the Ramsey store will close on Saturday, June 22 and, although no specific date for reopening has been set, the rebranded shop is set to reopen in August.

Posting on Facebook, Shoprite said: ‘Our Bowring Road store in Ramsey will be closing at 9pm on Saturday, June 22 - your closest alternative Tesco Express store is at St Paul's Square in Ramsey.

‘It's been a pleasure to serve you in this store and we hope you'll enjoy shopping in it when it reopens as a brand new Tesco store in August.’

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.

Tesco has been serving customers on the Isle of Man since 2000 when it opened its flagship store in Douglas.

The first refurbished Tesco store was the Tesco Express in Castletown which opened in February although it was an inauspicious start as customers had to be evacuated just hours after the ribbon was cut due to thick smoke which triggered the fire alarm.

Five of the nine new Tesco stores have already opened in Castletown, Douglas, Ramsey, Port Erin and Peel. The most recent opening was the Tesco in St Michael Street in Peel.