Tesco has announced the opening of its latest store on the Isle of Man.

The former Shoprite supermarket located in Michael Street, Peel will throw open its doors as a Tesco Express for the very first time at 8am this Friday (May 24).

From then on, the store will open between 7am and 10pm from Monday to Sunday.

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

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

According to Tesco, the Peel Express store will stock products from Manx suppliers.

It will also sell clothes and will have a Costa Coffee machine in store, the supermarket giant confirmed.

Store Director Andy Sanderson said: ‘The rollout of these new stores is incredibly exciting and we’re really grateful to the local residents who have been so welcoming.

‘We’ve worked in close partnership with local suppliers and the Isle of Man government to ensure we can provide the best service to our customers with great products and value.

‘Over the course of the store openings there’ll be around 120 new jobs created and we want to continue to have a positive impact in the local community through Stronger Starts and food donation programmes.’

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.

At the time, Shoprite's owners Deryck and Kevin Nicholson said it was a historic moment for their business.

In a joint statement, they said: 'We have carefully considered this decision and are pleased to pass our business on to an established brand in Tesco, which already has a presence on the Isle of Man.

'We wish to express our gratitude for the loyal support of our staff, suppliers and customers and we would like to sincerely thank them for being part of our journey for more than 50 years.

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.

Community groups seeking to benefit from Tesco’s Stronger Starts fund are encouraged to apply for the scheme at https://tescostrongerstarts.org.uk/