O’Reilly’s Wholesale – a home-grown business delivering convenience for 65 years
A third-generation family business, O’Reilly’s Wholesale is proudly headquartered in Newry City. Embarking on an impressive five-year plan, the company is looking forward to an exciting relocation and expansion, building on their well-established position as Northern Ireland’s leading wholesale distributor.
With a long and respected history as the leading independent wholesale distributor, O’Reilly’s Wholesale, an award-winning business prides themselves on being specialists in the distribution of confectionery, grocery, soft drinks and FMCG throughout Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the UK, as well as many export markets.
Marking a milestone 65th year in business this year, they have their sights firmly set on the future of the company, already investing in a five-year plan which will see an expansive new warehouse built at Martin’s Lane in Newry. Representing a significant growth in the business, the new site will cover 12 acres, a staggering increase on the current two-acre Rathfriland Road site which has been their base since 1993.
Director and Head of Business, Anne O’Reilly told NR they have experienced exponential growth since the pandemic.
“It has been manageable, and we have done well. During covid, it was a calmer time, we had to furlough on a rotational basis, and we did okay. But it is the after-effects of covid that has brought this growth,” said Anne.
“The positive story from covid is the garage forecourts, CTNs and the smaller/medium shops have all benefited from it and we have too. The big multiples became the less likely place for people to shop and the forecourts, symbols and smaller shops became much more important for customers – they are the community and family businesses, the very backbone of our society.
“Our five-year plan is to maintain continued growth and hopefully within those five years we will have our new facility up and running and maximise our operational efficiencies. There are many new projects in the pipeline, lots of things we are working on – our sales team is working on their growth strategy to drive the rest of the business as it really starts with them.
“The ROI markets have grown exponentially, and we are also concentrating on growing our NI market, whilst our export markets are constantly expanding.”
Currently undertaking a digital transformation, the year-long project is happening across the whole business. And having become very aware of their own carbon footprint, work is already taking place on their current site to make positive changes, with solar panels installed on the building’s roof, reps’ cars already changed to electric, and forklifts changed to lithium.
Anne added it is a journey that they are committed to, reducing their carbon footprint for the future.
“With the digital transformation we will incorporate technology into our operations to streamline processes and reduce costs, access software solutions for customer relationship management (CRM), sales tracking for and data analytics,” said Anne.
Their sights are on tapping into new markets and increasing growth for both O’Reilly’s and their customers.
“This sustainable approach will form a major part of our new building and approach to the business going forward. We expect to see this rolled out across our industry, but we like to be the leaders, rather than the followers,” said Derek.
As a member of the Sugro UK buying group, of which Derek is one of the longest-serving board members at 14 years, and combined with their global distributors, O’Reilly’s Wholesale supplies more than 6000 products to both local retail and export markets, and with a fleet of over 20 delivery vehicles. They have enjoyed a year-on-year increase in turnover reaching £55 million in 2023, and on track to exceed this for 2024.
O’Reilly’s see that understanding their markets is crucial. They are committed to helping their customers exceed growth targets by providing the support they need to maximise that growth.
Anne said: “We have extremely passionate independents, and they are thankfully not shy about telling us what we should be listing. We therefore listen to them. Our teams are also intuitive and instinctive, and these attributes are reflected in their approach to business.”
With 123 staff currently employed, O’Reilly’s prides itself on its company culture, ensuring staff at all levels are provided with proper training while also looking after their mental and physical health.
There are four mental health first aiders, including Anne and 10 physical first aiders, with Anne adding this is something they take very seriously.
“We also have a health scheme for staff because it is difficult for them to get seen by any medical facility in the current climes, so it helps to get them at the first stage, it is a safety net for them.
“One of the most important things here in O’Reilly’s is the company culture, that is something we really emphasise and work on – all the management team are well engaged here.
“We know that we all come here to work, and we all have our own baggage, but the culture is to make sure we look out for the other staff members. Hence the reason for us undertaking mental health training – we wanted to give those trained members the confidence to approach their colleague if they saw they needed help.”
This respect of and commitment to their staff has resulted in an equal respect and commitment to the company, with many of their teams giving several years of employment to the company. Indeed, three of their management team have accrued more than 25 and 30 years whilst one of their sales team has given 40 years to the company. Sixteen other staff members are with O’Reilly’s more than 10 years.
“Another very important thing to us is philanthropy, we are very supportive of the communities here and the wider charity organisations,” added Anne.
“We support many local charities including the Southern Area Hospice and as a cross-border charity we support Little Blue Heroes, supporting children who are terminally ill. This is in collaboration with An Garda Siochana. We also support Caring Coins here in Newry, this amazing initiative of the breakfast club offering a meal to children during the holidays when no free school meal is available to them. This is an especially important part of the business for us.”
Inevitably, over the course of 65 years in business various and significant challenges have been faced by O’Reilly’s, none more so than Brexit, said Anne.
“Without doubt, the biggest challenge we have faced has been Brexit. The trade and finance teams here had to get over huge hurdles, the amount of red tape we have faced, the amount of resources we have had to bring in and the cost of navigating that has been challenging. And again, there are other rules soon coming down the line from the Windsor Framework which will also have an impact on us.”
In a bid to address these challenges, O’Reilly’s fulfilled a long-term ambition and joined Newry Chamber this year as a corporate patron and hope to avail of the expertise that they can source in. Already, the Chamber have stepped up to provide access to Ministers which they are very appreciative to be able to engage directly with.
A third-generation family business, there are three of Anne and Derek’s family working in the business across trade, transport and admin, and led by a very strong management team, Anne and Derek have total faith in their team to support the day-to-day running of the business, attributing much of the company’s success to their team’s commitment and determination.
Headed by Derek and Anne, the management team includes Sinead Lavery, recently made financial director. Sinead will play a big part in the restructuring for the new build and its strategic growth; Ian Russell – sales manager, with the company in excess of 25 years and who has a team of twelve reporting to him and concentrating on driving growth through data; Bryan O’Hare, warehouse manager; Philip Shiells, transport manager; and Anthony O’Hare, night manager all have a crew of 85 plus reporting into them. Michael Kingham, finance manager has a team he manages with Sinead Lavery. The procurement team is headed by Gavin O’Reilly, Eamon Quinn and Tony Williamson.
“Our Trading group, Sugro UK Ltd has also helped business growth in the number of years we have been members,” added Anne. “We have very good relationships with our supply networks and our procurement team are always sourcing new products and supply chains.”
From humble beginnings back in 1959, with Robert O’Reilly starting out from a small garage in Meigh village, a combination of traditional and innovative techniques has ensured that O’Reilly’s have been at the top of their game for 65 years. This anniversary is a celebration of continued success in and dedication to the sector, but the team at O’Reilly’s see no room for complacency, and intend to continue innovating and expanding their business, providing a quality service for customers and clients across Ireland, the UK and around the world.
Derek O’Reilly summed up our interview chat with a quote which is very relative to his business – “We love Wholesale, We live Wholesale, We are Wholesale,” he proudly declared.
TO SEE THE FULL O’REILLY’S WHOLESALE EXCLUSIVE SUPPLEMENT IN THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE OF NEIGHBOURHOOD RETAILER, CLICK HERE
