Smart supermarket of Birkirkara is celebrating its 25th anniversary today with a feast in its car part between 5 and 10 p.m. today. Dancing, cabaret, magicians, balancing acts, games and food and drink will be available and entrance will be free. Smart Supermarket clients who have their Smart Loyalty Card are urged to take it along as they will be given a souvenir.

Smart Supermarket was started by the late Carmelo Grech, who was always breaking new ground with fresh ideas. Mr Grech started off as a contractor, building the famous Triton fountain, which still stands at the bus terminus, Floriana, as well as the highest building of its time, the 12-storey Preluna Hotel.

In 1960 he opened the Smart shirt factory, which lent its name to Smart Supermarket in 1981, then one of the largest supermarkets in Malta. The supermarket's footprint at the time was 400 m2 and had only two cash points.

Today, Smart has a footprint of 9,000 m2, half of which is a shopping area with 19 cash points. It is still family-run, with four directors, three of whom - Lawrence, Joe and Doris Bonett - are the late Mr Grech's children, while Mark Ciantar, another director, is their nephew.

It now has a new bakery and a Chinese food preparation room. In 2002, Smart Supermarket introduced the loyalty cards, and it now has around 30,000 members. The supermarket recently evolved into a complex with other retail outlets selling perfumes, mobile phones, toys, stationery, clothes as well as a cafeteria, forming part of the same establishment. It also introduced on-line shopping, with goods being either delivered or picked up.

Smart today employs 130 people, some of whom have been with the company for more than 20 years.

"The secret behind this success is that it has always been a family business concern and we have grown gradually as time went by," Joe Grech said.