Azzopardi Group is currently in the process of purchasing a huge site in Qormi, currently occupied by the Joinwell showroom and a number of other businesses in the extensive warehouses behind it.

Joseph Azzopardi, Managing Director at Miracle Foods, Valhmor, and SPAR – three of the Group’s retail-focused brands – confirmed that Azzopardi has a promise of sale agreement to buy the site on Triq il-Mitħna, Qormi.

However, when asked whether the Group plans to develop the site into a shopping complex housing all its different brands, Mr Azzopardi said “there is no such intention”, and explained that certain leases for the warehouses behind the Joinwell showroom are already being renegotiated to be extended.

He said that “if and only if” all the conditions in the promise of sale agreement are met, the sale should be finalised at the end of 2023.

Meanwhile, Joinwell General Manager Simon Grima confirmed that the joinery company has earmarked a site for its new showroom, and indicated that plans will soon be submitted to the Planning Authority to obtain the necessary permits.

He said that the Joinwell showroom will be moving to a new place, but the company is “looking at putting the factory and logistics centre somewhere else”.

About Azzopardi Group

Although Azzopardi’s is a name most commonly associated with fish, being one of the premier suppliers of fresh fish on the islands and an important player in the tuna farming business through AJD Tuna, which exports almost all its production to the sushi-obsessed Japanese market.

Founded by Charles and Anthony Azzopardi in 1980, the family has expanded and diversified its activities over the years, and is today a leading player in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), aquaculture, retail, tourism, and property sectors.

In 2011 it purchased Valhmor, a leading food importer, and has more recently become the licensee for the international SPAR chain of supermarkets.

Azzopardi Group also owns frozen food chain Miracle Foods and has significant stakes in real estate developments Fort Cambridge and Balluta Terraces.

Azzopardi Group is not a formally registered company but rather a collection of family holdings through several companies mostly owned by the original founders.