A real gem – Hamilton’s Newtownstewart marks 45 years in business
Retailer Charlie Hamilton has marked 45 years in business, celebrating the anniversary of his store opening in Newtownstewart. He tells NR about how the business has grown in that time, and how he will always stay true to his core business – award-winning fresh food.
Marking his sapphire 45th anniversary in business, Charlie Hamilton had time to reflect on stepping into the grocery industry, establishing himself as a well-respected and popular businessman in County Tyrone with a worthy reputation for top-of-the-range fresh food.
Encouraged by his father-in-law, Charlie and his wife Ruth took over the shop in Newtownstewart when it came up for sale in 1979, leaving their professions as civil servant and nurse respectively. Working seven days a week for the first five years, they put their hearts and souls into building up the business, using their own experiences to drive their ambition for the shop.
“Being from a farming background, working seven days a week was not unusual and the farming ethos is always to grow the business,” Charlie told NR.
“We made it bigger and kept doing that until we ran out of space. In 1990 we decided to build a house out in the country and so we knocked down the original house and cleared the site to make the shop bigger. Two years later we knocked down the original shop and put the new store there.”
Not coming from a retail background, Charlie had to find his feet and learn on the job – a job he says he really loves.
“When I took over the shop in Newtownstewart, the manager stayed on to show me the ropes. My first job in the shop was how to do fruit and veg and to this day, that is my first love in the shop.
“They were pioneering days but we didn’t realise it at the time. Times have moved on, but fresh food has always been a big part of my life.”
Indeed, the fresh food division across the Hamilton’s SPAR Group is an award-winning one, with Charlie’s SPAR Castlederg store winning the Fresh Food Store of the Year at the 2023 NR Awards. Charlie described the win as “an honour”.
“Even being part of this is good for business because it makes you focus on what you are doing and what you did to win – that is part of retailing, doing something different that makes you stand out from the crowd,” said Charlie after winning the award.
Judges said the Castlederg store had a “huge range of fresh food” with “fresh local meat and vegetables to bakery, prepared meals, salads and sauces – the quality and value was outstanding”.
The first convenience store in Northern Ireland to have automatic doors, Charlie said it was “amazingly important” for his customers in Newtownstewart.
“Most people did not use trollies at the time and for mothers getting the door opened when you’re pushing a pram or a buggy and holding shopping was always difficult, so it made it much easier for the customer to get in and out,” said Charlie.
“I persuaded Coca-Cola to put in the first chiller without doors too, they invested in it with me. We were always trying new things all the time, some of them worked and some of them didn’t, thankfully most of them worked!
“I would say don’t be shy about stealing a good idea! Nobody has an exclusive right to an idea, but it’s about putting your own spin on it and that is what people are still doing today.”
One of the first stores in Northern Ireland to have the ‘8 to late’ branding, the Newtownstewart store was already providing those opening hours for customers as they had a forecourt. And while UK SPAR stores were availing of the growth in alcohol sales, John Agnew invested in lorries and van sales, establishing the fresh food phenomenon it is today.
“That is part of the success we have had with Hendersons,” added Charlie. “The development of fresh food has developed everyone’s business.”
When Charlie and Ruth took over the Newtownstewart store, it stood at 800 sq ft and over the years they have expanded it to 3000 sq ft. However, they are eager for more growth and keen to help meet the needs of the growing community there.
“Newtownstewart has planning for 150 houses, so we all need to grow to be able to support this. We are planning on expanding and have been working with the planners for the last three years and have bought land next door to use. There is a bit of a hold-up but once we have that issue resolved we will start working on it.”
Having started out with just one full-time member of staff and two part-time, the Newtownstewart store now boasts 35 staff all from the local area, something Charlie is proud of thanks to his belief in reinvesting in the local community, supporting local charities and community events and regular fundraising for Marie Curie.
This investment in local saw the Hamiltons establish two further shops in County Tyrone, opening their Castlederg shop in 1995 and another in Omagh in 1998. Charlie and Ruth have also guided their children into business as well, with son David starting his own shop in Enniskillen in 2000 and growing his business to three stores, as well as having an interest in farming.
Following daughter Louise’s time at university, she bought Joe’s Chippy in Sion Mills and has been in business for 15 years, while son John spent 10 years in Australia and has now settled back home and is starting to build up a property business and daughter Alison works in the family business now too, and is a partner in the Newtownstewart store.
“They are all their own individual people and they know where they are going in life,” said Charlie. “They did not get anything handed to them, myself and Ruth guided them through it all and they did all their work on their own merit.”
Like all retailers, the Hamilton SPAR Group has faced its own challenges, rising business costs, the cost-of-living crisis, the increase in wages to name a few, as Charlie explained retail has always been hard work.
“The age-old challenge is people, it has been from day one. I thought 40 years ago that retail was hard work and it’s still hard work! It hasn’t got any easier, it’s just the problems that have changed,” he said.
“It’s down to the statutory agencies that seem to be stacked against you. Every year the costs are going up and this year seems to be the worst. The rise in minimum wage has been really challenging and I do not think that the real impact of that has been fully felt yet. That is going to be really challenging for small retailers as the pot gets thinner.
“The biggest threat to the likes of me is the Asda and Tesco home deliveries. There is a population out there who doesn’t leave the house to shop, and buys their clothes and groceries in. The biggest growth nowadays is coffee – coffee shops are the new pubs.
“I find the off licence flat also, I have one in each shop. I was speaking to a rep recently and they said it used to be if the off licence was quiet the pubs were busy, but they are both quiet now.
“The shopper has become more savvy. People are down about £100 per week as their mortgages have gone up and it’s hurting all our customers. The biggest plus we have had in the business was covid. Covid was our friend, although we did not see it at the time.
“When people were clapping the NHS, they forgot one thing – when people woke up in the morning and needed milk for their breakfast, there was nobody clapping for the retailers or those who emptied the bins, there was a whole area of workers who were forgotten about. Obviously, the NHS was vital and saved lives, but there were hundreds of other workers out during that too.
“I would like to say thank you to my staff for their courage and dedication during the pandemic, when we didn’t know anything about this new enemy. Grocery staff to sales assistants, checkout staff, they were not recognised as much as they should have been.
“We love our customers, and we did our own style click and collect for them during the pandemic. Those customers really appreciated that we went the extra mile and still support us to this day.
“I want to say thank you to my staff, my suppliers and wholesalers and customers for their support over the years. They are all needed in their own way and we are so grateful for that.”
TO READ THE FULL HAMILTON’S NEWTOWNSTEWART FEATURE IN THE JUNE-JULY ISSUE OF NEIGHBOURHOOD RETAILER, CLICK HERE
