A supermarket business with deep roots in North Wales is preparing to make history thousands of miles away by opening what it says will be the first UK high street retail brand to establish a store in the Falkland Islands.

Iceland Foods will open a new shop in Stanley, the capital of the Falklands, in early December.

The store is being opened in partnership with local retailer Kelper Stores, part of the Fortuna group, and will sell Iceland's own-brand frozen food alongside products from brands including Cathedral City, MyProtein and TGI Fridays.

But while the announcement is being made from the South Atlantic, the company's North Wales connection is a significant part of the story.

Iceland Foods is headquartered at Deeside Industrial Park in Flintshire, where the company's registered office is also based.

The relationship with Deeside goes back almost five decades. Iceland opened a new cold store and head office at Deeside in 1979, as the business expanded from its early North Wales and North West roots.

Today, Deeside remains the company's headquarters and an important centre for the business. Iceland continues to recruit for a range of specialist positions there, including roles in buying, commercial operations and product development. Its Innovation Centre in Deeside is involved in developing new products for the retailer.

That makes Iceland unusual among major UK retailers. Although it now has more than 950 stores across the UK, its corporate base remains firmly in North Wales.

The company began with a single shop in Oswestry in 1970, founded by Malcolm Walker, before expanding rapidly. Its move to Deeside was an important stage in that growth and helped establish North Wales as the operational home of a retailer that would eventually become a national brand.

The Falklands expansion represents another step in that development.

Iceland executive chairman Lord Richard Walker says the company has a long history of "firsts" and described the Falklands as a special part of the British family. He is planning to travel to Stanley to officially open the store.

The move also comes at a politically sensitive time, with Argentina continuing to assert its sovereignty claim over the Falkland Islands. The new store is therefore attracting attention beyond its significance as a retail development.

For the people of the Falklands, the practical significance is more straightforward. Stanley is home to a relatively small and remote population, and the new store is expected to increase the range of frozen and branded food available to local shoppers.

The partnership with Kelper Stores also means Iceland is entering the market with an established local operator rather than attempting to build a retail operation from scratch.

For North Wales, meanwhile, the story is a reminder of the international reach of a company whose corporate home is on Deeside Industrial Park.

What started with a cold store and head office in Flintshire in 1979 has grown into a retailer with hundreds of stores, a substantial online operation and now ambitions that stretch as far as the South Atlantic.

And when the doors open in Stanley in December, a little piece of North Wales business history will be travelling with them.