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Grupo Mateus expands presence in Maranhão amidst a phase of expansion, internal adjustments, and public divergences over the updated total of stores, maintaining the pace of openings after staff cuts and unit closures at the beginning of 2026.
Grupo Mateus opened a new unit under the Supermercado Mateus brand in São José de Ribamar, in the Metropolitan Region of São Luís, after a quarter in which the company recorded a reduction in staff and store closures.
The opening took place in the Miritiua neighborhood and was announced in June 2026 by specialized publications in the supermarket sector, which follow the company’s expansion in Maranhão and other states in the North and Northeast.
Located on Avenida General Arthur Carvalho, the operation expands the network’s presence in its home state, where the group celebrates 40 years of operation in 2026, according to the company’s institutional information.
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SuperHiper, a publication of the Brazilian Supermarket Association, reported that the inauguration brought the network to 310 stores in operation in the country, according to the count published by the sectoral vehicle.
The operation’s advancement comes after a restructuring that entered the financial market’s radar in May, when the results for the first quarter of 2026 were released.
According to InfoMoney, based on data presented with the quarterly balance sheet, the number of employees dropped from 47.9 thousand to 41.2 thousand employees, a reduction of 6,673 positions.
New Grupo Mateus Store in Maranhão
The São José de Ribamar unit was opened in a region where Grupo Mateus already maintains a significant part of its operation, especially in Maranhão and other markets in the North and Northeast.
The company presents itself as the third-largest retail network in Brazil and operates in different formats, including food retail, wholesale, electronics, and services related to consumption.
In the Miritiua neighborhood, the new store serves consumers from the Greater Island, a region formed by São Luís, São José de Ribamar, Paço do Lumiar, and Raposa, according to the locally used territorial division.
SuperVarejo reported that the Mateus General Arthur Carvalho unit has about 900 m² of sales area, 100 parking spaces, 13 points of sale, and more than 100 employees.
Another sector publication, SuperHiper, provided different numbers about the store’s structure, citing approximately 1,200 m² of sales area and 121 direct jobs.
As there is a discrepancy between the data on square footage and job creation in the two publications, the confirmed information is that the store expanded its local operation and opened new direct positions.
Also according to SuperVarejo, the opening marks the second unit of the brand in the municipality of São José de Ribamar, which is part of the metropolitan region of the capital of Maranhão.
With the new operation, Grupo Mateus increases its presence in the Greater Island, an area where the company already operates through different store formats and consumer services.
Expansion after layoffs and store closures
The inauguration in Maranhão comes after a series of operational adjustments disclosed in Grupo Mateus’s balance sheet for the first quarter of 2026.
During the period, the company closed 28 stores and opened four new units, according to information published by InfoMoney based on the results presented by the company to the market.
The reduction in the workforce represented a drop of over 13% between the end of 2025 and the first months of 2026, according to the figures reported in the quarterly balance sheet coverage.
The reduction was recorded in the results released on May 14, 2026, in a context of pressure on revenue and same-store sales, according to the analysis published by InfoMoney.
During the earnings conference call, the chairman of the board, Ilson Mateus Rodrigues, commented on the company’s adjustment process, as reported by the financial publication.
InfoMoney also reported that the company anticipated further expense reductions, but unrelated to additional staff cuts, according to the information available at the time of disclosure.
Even after the closure of units in the first quarter, Grupo Mateus maintained its inauguration schedule in 2026, with new operations in different cities in the North and Northeast.
Before the São José de Ribamar store, the company had opened units in Imperatriz, Belém, Paço do Lumiar, Teresina, Arapiraca, and Caxias, according to the sequence of openings reported by industry outlets.
Presence of Grupo Mateus in the North and Northeast
Grupo Mateus maintains operations in states such as Maranhão, Pará, Piauí, Ceará, Pernambuco, Bahia, Sergipe, Alagoas, and Paraíba, according to the list of units presented on the company’s institutional website.
The company states that it operates in different business models, with supermarket stores, wholesale clubs, and other retail formats, in addition to services integrated into the commercial operation.
SuperHiper reported that, of the eight branches opened by the group in 2026 up to the publication of the report, five were located in Maranhão.
This data shows the concentration of some openings in the company’s state of origin, especially in municipalities close to the capital and in cities with an established presence of the network.
In May, SuperVarejo had already reported that Grupo Mateus had reached 310 stores with a new unit in Imperatriz, in the interior of Maranhão.
The following month, the same publication reported that the opening in São José de Ribamar raised the total to 312 units, while SuperHiper recorded 310 operations.
The difference between the published numbers indicates that the count may vary depending on the criteria used, the timing of the update, or the type of operation considered by each survey.
For this reason, the most accurate way to present the situation is to record that the new unit keeps Grupo Mateus above 300 operations in Brazil in 2026.
The company is going through a period combining internal restructuring, after reducing the workforce and closing stores, with the continuation of openings in markets where it already operates.
In this scenario, the opening in São José de Ribamar is part of the regional expansion strategy announced by the group and followed by specialized media in the supermarket sector.
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