In the home territory of the Bompreço store chain in north-east Brazil, the name (meaning “good price”) has entered everyday vocabulary. People say they are going to “do a Bompreço”, to mean going shopping, even if they plan to do it in another supermarket altogether.

For years, it was the only store of its kind around. It built the first hypermarket in Recife. Now it has them dotted around the city and other urban centres in the region.