“The new headquarters, which represents an investment value of €17 million and which reinforces the company’s bet on Portugal, is located next to the Paço de Arcos shop, and reflects the brand values: openness, trust and excellence,” Auchan Retail said in a statement.

The head office, which occupies 7,500 square metres, will be home to 500 fixed and more than 100 flexible jobs, which will move from the previous space in Alcântara.

Cited in the same document, the executive chairman of Auchan Retail Portugal said that the new building was open to “support service teams, shops and the community”.

Pedro Cid also assured that the objective was to create a place “that enhances the excellence of ‘performance’ of the teams, while at the same time responding to the trust they place in their employees.

During the inauguration ceremony, he also addressed a word of thanks to employees, customers and suppliers.

“It is to my team that I address my first word: thank you for your commitment to building this company from Portuguese for Portuguese. This is your headquarters”, he said.

Pedro Cid also stressed that the move of the headquarters from Alcântara to Paço de Arcos, in the municipality of Oeiras, 50 years later, is “a milestone”, noting that this address “is a sign of the transformation” that the company has been undertaking in recent years.

“The companies have to be active members of the society,” he said.

Besides the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the Minister of State, Economy and Digital Transition, Pedro Siza Vieira, and the Mayor of Oeiras, Isaltino Morais, were present at the event.

Auchan Retail Portugal has 64 shops, 29 petrol stations and employs about 9,000 workers.