Grupo Mateus

About Grupo Mateus

We are Grupo Mateus, a conglomerate of companies operating in the supermarket retail, cash-and-carry, furniture and appliances, bakery industry, pharmaceutical distribution, and construction sectors in the states of Maranhão and Pará. We also serve three other states (Piauí, Tocantins, and Bahia) in a wholesale format with Armazém Mateus. Our history began in the late 1970s when Mr. Ilson Mateus, originally from Imperatriz in Maranhão, decided to venture into Serra Pelada, the world's largest gold deposit. It was there, during a campfire conversation with other miners, that the young visionary heard that the city of Balsas, in Maranhão, would be the new agricultural frontier and would grow significantly in the coming years – the green gold that was beginning to sprout from the earth. With his entrepreneurial vision and no fear of innovation, Ilson Mateus didn't hesitate: he sold his few belongings and, despite lacking the necessary experience, set up a small grocery store there. At the same time, he personally handled the deliveries in his old truck, transporting products acquired in Imperatriz, 400 km away, to be sold in Balsas. Hard work and perseverance made a dream begin to come true: in a short time, the small grocery store became a small supermarket, and later, in 2000, a large, modern hypermarket with over 5,000 square meters of sales area was inaugurated. An ambitious yet grounded expansion plan was designed to reach the entire state from then on, opening stores in cities with great market potential, such as Imperatriz in 2000, Santa Inês in 2002, and finally reaching the capital São Luís in 2003. Since then, we have not stopped growing and innovating, and today we are a large family with over 22,000 employees.