Iceland (supermarket)

Iceland Foods Ltd, trading as Iceland, is a British supermarket chain. Its main office is in Deeside, Wales. It mainly sells frozen foods, including prepared meals and vegetables, alongside non-frozen grocery items such as produce, meat, dairy and dry goods. The company also operates a chain of shops called The Food Warehouse.

It started in 1970, when Malcolm Walker opened the first store in Leg Street, Oswestry, Shropshire, England. By 1978 the company had 28 stores.

Iceland Foods' holding company was renamed the Big Food Group in February 2002,

In 2009 it closed its household equipment showrooms and  concentrated on food retailing. In 2013, the firm began selling eqipment online again in partnership with DRL Limited. In May 2014, the firm reintroduced online shopping, which had been dropped in 2007. By 2019 it had 942 stores. 

The government of Iceland complained about the company trademarking the name of their country, and of "harass[ing] Icelandic companies and even the Icelandic tourism board" by pursuing legal action against Icelandic companies which use the name of their country in their trading names.  They complained to the European Union Intellectual Property Office.  In 2019 the office decided that the company could not register a trademark for the sole use of the word "Iceland" within the European Union. 

References

Category:1970 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:Supermarkets of the United Kingdom