Family-run Imperio Food Store opens on Norwich Road, Ipswich

Imperio Food Store had announced in May that they would be moving into the former Just A Day Bridal shop, which closed in June 2023, to open a new Brazilian and Portuguese grocery store.

On Friday, the owners of the store, the Lucena family, held an opening party with mayor Elango Elavalakan cutting the ribbon and local councillors being present at the meeting. 

The store is run by a family, who also run the Portuguese cafe near it.  (Image: Shikhar Talwar) Brenda Lucena, the eldest daughter of the family, said: "This is an achievement of 20 years of hard work. 

"We have been running the cafe on the other side of this wall (Bicafé o Português) since 2001, and during the pandemic, we noticed that a lot of people were coming in for our grocery section. 

"There are things here that you can't find in a Tesco or places like that, and we have a great variety of wines on offer for all types of budget."

They said that the store will offer a lot of Portuguese and Brazilian food that customers can't find elsewhere.  (Image: Shikhar Talwar) The store also has a huge wine collection. (Image: Shikhar Talwar) She added that the store also has a deli meat section, for which they will have fresh meat delivered every three days. 

With this store, the family not only had the intention to offer something customers cannot get in other venues across town but were conscious of not becoming "another corner shop".

They said that they did not want to be another corner shop.  (Image: Shikhar Talwar) "We are just trying to bring something different to the road," Ms Lucena added. 

"Obviously, it's not like all the other shops, it's not another corner shop. You are not going to find any vapes or American sweets in here.

"It's really a place for you to have a little bit of a taste of Portugal but in England." 

The store is located near Coes and will begin officially trading on Saturday.