Superquinn is set to invest more than £20 million developing two new supermarkets in Wicklow and Waterford. The company said last night it had paid £1.36 million for a five-acre site at Tramore Road, Waterford. Superquinn managing director, Mr Feargal Quinn told The Irish Times that it was the Irish-owned supermarket chain's ambition to become a nationwide retail group.

Superquinn currently owns 11 supermarkets in Dublin and has five others in Bray, Naas, Kilkenny, Carlow and Clonmel. It recently announced plans to develop a second supermarket in Bray.

Mr Quinn said the Bray and Waterford projects were at similar stages and would take about two years to develop. The company is to apply to Waterford Council for a rezoning of the site and for planning permission to build a supermarket and a small number of retail units.

Mr Quinn said the project would entail an investment of around £10 million and would include several small units, such as a chemist shop and a newsagent. He said the proposed site was ideally positioned to facilitate customers' cars and deliveries.

Superquinn bought the site at auction from Waterford Corporation. When the eight-acre site at Bray and the Waterford site are fully developed the group will employ around 3,500 people. It currently employs 3,000.

Mr Quinn said the developments would be funded from internal resources and borrowings.

"It is our ambition to become a nationwide group, but the company has been fussy about the sites we go into. That's why we haven't moved faster," he explained.