Smart Supermarket yesterday celebrated its 25th anniversary with a feast in its car park.

The supermarket had been launched by the late Carmelo Grech, who started his business career as a building contractor. Two landmarks of his works still survive: the Triton fountain, at the Valletta bus terminus, and the Preluna Hotel, which at 12 storeys was the tallest building in Malta at the time.

From construction, Mr Grech moved into textiles, opening the Smart Shirt factory in 1960, in the same place where part of the Smart Supermarket now stands. The supermarket was opened in 1981, and with 400 square metres of floor space, it was one of the largest complexes on the island then.

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

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

Smart Supermarket has its own bakery, which has just been upgraded, and a Chinese food preparation room. In 2002, Smart Supermarket introduced loyalty cards, and now has about 30,000 members. Smart loyalty card holders were yesterday given key chains with a token that can be used to unlock trolleys once Malta adopts the euro.

Smart 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 offers online shopping, with goods being either delivered or picked up.

The company today employs 130 people, some of whom have been on its books for more than 20 years.