The last store set to open in the island has taken a step closer with an application for new signs.

The former Winerite store on Victoria Road will become the tenth store to open when it starts trading in the new year.

Eight stores have already opened with the large Peel store the next to cut the ribbon later this month.

Now the supermarket giant has submitted a planning application to install new illuminated signs at Winerite as it begins to convert the former premises into a Tesco Express.

The application is for one illuminated sign above the entrance and another on the lefthand side of the building.

Last month, the Ramsey superstore in Bowring Road was the seventh of nine new stores set to open on the island this year following Tesco’s acquisition of Shoprite.

The large Peel store is set to open later this month while Tesco is also due to open a Tesco Express at the former Winerite store on Victoria Road in Douglas later in the year.

In October 2023, Shoprite announced it had reached an agreement with Tesco to sell all of its nine supermarkets in the island.

The news brought to an end 51 years of trading for Shoprite which was launched in 1972 by the Nicholson family.

Tesco has been serving customers in the island since 2000. The sale means that the number of Tesco stores in the island will eventually be increased to 10, including its existing store in Douglas.

The next store is on Derby Road in Peel, which is expected to open in mid to late October which has been delayed slightly due to power upgrade work done with Manx Utilities.

The latest application will be considered by the planning committee in due course.