Death of Malaga businessman with very close links to Mercadona supermarket chain

One of the most popular supermarkets in Spain, Mercadona, has close links with a family business based in Antequera which has just suffered a sad loss due to the death of Juan Carlos Gómez Gómez, who died on Wednesday aged 64.

Together with his brothers Rafael, Epifanio and Esteban, Juan Carlos had run the Gómez Serrano company which merged with Mercadona in 1998; all four were on the board of directors of the supermarket chain.

Following the merger with Mercadona owned by the Roig family, the Gómez brothers continued their own business interests in Antequera and also set up awards in memory of their parents, Patrocinio Gómez and Juan Manuel Gómez. Their company, Almacenes Gómez Serrano, created the Multimás chain of supermarkets which grew to a total of 100 branches in the provinces of Malaga, Granada, Cordoba, Seville and Jaén.

In 1998 the Roigs added Multimás to their network of stores and the Gómez family acquired 7.2% of Mercadona’s shares. At that time Rafael Gómez, one of the brothers, became the only board member of the company who was not part of the Roig family.

At times, these entrepreneurs from Antequera have featured on the Forbes magazine list of the 100 biggest fortunes in Spain, and in 2016 they were in 52nd place, higher than anyone else in Malaga province. However, this year they are no longer included. The only ‘malagueño’ (by adoption) to feature on the 2022 list is Tomás Olivo, with a fortune of 1.5 billion euros.