A stalwart of the retail and foodservice industry, the popular family butcher on Scotch Street has been trading as a ‘purveyor of high-class meat’ to Armagh city and district for over 90 years.

In a statement on their social media page, current proprietor David officially announced the business will close permanently on Saturday 25^th November, adding it was a decision that had “not been taken lightly”.

In an emotional post, David thanked the many loyal customers who had shopped with them over the years, spanning generations of families.

“The current financial and energy crisis, along with rates, has left us with no choice. We have always offered high quality produce, along with value and have made the decision not to pass on these additional costs to our valued customers.

“We are ‘purveyors of high class meat’ and are proud, even throughout the financial crisis, to have maintained this.

APPRECIATION

“We realise this may have come as a shock to many, especially those whose unwavering loyalty brought them over the threshold of A Flanagan & Son week after week. We are so very sorry. Please accept our heartfelt thanks and appreciation.

“Many of you came here holding the hands of your parents and now come holding the hands of your children and even grandchildren. We know so many of you as friends and not as customers. Thank you.”

David also had a special word of thanks for his 82-year-old father, who established the business and continues to run the family farm.

“There are no words to convey my love, admiration and appreciation. He built up the family business and made it such a success,” he added.

“Of course behind every great man is a great woman and here I must pay tribute to my late mother, who passed away earlier this year. She also was the backbone of the business, working alongside my father on many occasions. I am indebted to all the love, hard work and dedication my mother put into the family business. She is sorely missed.”

He also had special thanks for his staff, both past and present, “some of whom have been here many years”.

The business will operate as normal until 5.30pm on Saturday 25^th November.

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Established in 1952, Johnston’s Bakery is a traditional home bakery situated on Scotch Street in Armagh. An institution in its own right, it has been a key part of the city’s trade and a vital part of celebrations in the city and wider district.

In a statement, Alan, Hilary, James and Kellie confirmed the news that they were retiring from the bakery business.

“This time with a heavy heart, we can tell you that the rumours are true. As a family we have decided it’s time to move on and given someone else the opportunity to run this fabulous wee business.

“Hopefully, we can find someone that can drive the business forward and make it as successful as it has been for us.”

Property Link Estate Agents, who is handling the sale, said the well-established business with substantial commercial premises would be suitable for someone already in the bakery trade or someone who is ready to take on a new business venture.

The thriving business is for sale as a going concern, with a shop to the front and hot and cold deli and coffee lounge seating to the rear, along with a large bakery and preparation area.

Following the announcement of the retirement, many tributes were paid to the family on social media, with many describing it as the end of an era and several others wishing them well for the future.

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Armagh-based Tayto Group has secured a deal with a supermarket giant to list three additional lines of crisps, including two new products, in 50 of the retailer’s stores across Scotland.

The new lines will include Golden Wonder 75^th Anniversary Crisps, Golden Wonder Ringos Puffs Barbeque and Sweet Chilli.

Founded in 1956, the Tandragee business has grown to be a major supplier of retailer-brand snacks including Asda, which it has been supplying for more than 20 years.

Employing more than 1,600 people across six sites, including almost 200 in Northern Ireland, the group also owns several brands including Golden Wonder, Mr Porky, and the iconic Tayto.

Matt Smith, Golden Wonder’s marketing director, said: “Asda’s local sourcing strategy, that tailors its range for the Scottish market, has provided this opportunity to share Golden Wonder’s 75^th celebrations with Asda shoppers in our Scottish heartland.”

Cathy Elliott, Asda’s buying manager for NI Local, added: “The commitment of Tayto in celebrating the 75^th anniversary of Golden Wonder with nostalgic flavours is something we are very excited to be able to offer our Asda shoppers in Scotland.”

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There’s one type of retailer that’s bound to be met with a rapturous response when it arrives on the High Street and that’s the humble sweetie shop.

Sweetez was no exception when it opened its first Belfast shop earlier this month, sparking queues out of the door of the Cregagh Road store and customers coming back for more on the following day.

Alan Sherrard, director of Sweetez Retail Limited, explains that sweets are still popular despite the cost of living crisis.

“Life’s tough enough at the minute but people are still treating themselves, and going out and getting the wee bits and pieces that they want,” he says.

“We’ve had a great response, we’ve had queues out through the door and we’re getting a lot of repeat customers back in. It’s not just one group – there’s young kids coming in and older customers coming in as well.

“We offer a big range, not just of American confectionery, but also what I would call local stuff that you would get in other shops.”

Undertapped market

The USP of the store is its focus on American confectionery brands which Alan says is an undertapped market.

“We saw there was a big gap in the market for American lines and this is mainly being driven by the likes of TikTok and YouTube,” he says.

“You get a lot of younger children and kids coming in and asking for things that they may have seen on YouTube or TikTok, mostly American lines.

“So there would be new lines coming out, the likes of Takis, Cheetos, that type of stuff, that they’re seeing on there because people are maybe doing taste test challenges and they’re coming in and asking us for those lines.”

Alan has been immersed in retail management and sales since leaving school 23 years ago, and this isn’t the first store he has managed.

“When I left school, I joined SuperValu as a trainee manager, worked my way up to managing my own shop and then moved into the other side of it and went out to sales, so I’ve done sales as well,” he says.

“The shop I was managing was Centra in Loughgall at the time – it’s a Mace now. I’ve also worked for the National Lottery as well, out and about on the road with Camelot.

Direct sales

“Our sister company is a wholesaler of confectionery so we decided we could open a shop and sell directly to the public,” Alan says.

“We came up with the idea of opening a shop in Armagh. So we investigated and came up with a location in Armagh that would be our test shop to see what worked and what didn’t work.

“We got that one open in July of last year and then followed up with the Portadown store in March this year – and now Belfast. So that’s been three stores within the last 12 months.”

Donut brand

And they haven’t just stopped at sweets, Alan says.

“What we’ve done also, we created our own donut brand because there is a big gap in the market there, and we launched it in our Portadown store,” he says.

“So all of our donuts that we sell in our own shops are manufactured in our Portadown store under the brand of Gangsta Donuts.

“The Portadown store is three times the size of the Armagh one but we have a bit more space there so that we can develop this brand. Because there definitely is a gap in the market there for a reliable good quality donut brand.

“We do the ring donuts but we also do filled donuts with the likes of Biscoff, Bueno, Milky Bar, that have the softness in the middle of them, and that’s something that we are going to be pushing and growing.

“So we are looking to sell those in the stores, not just within our own retail stores, but we also have a couple of customers coming on board who have their own shops that we’re going to be supplying as well.

“We’ve doubled the amount of space that’s being given to the donuts, and the rest of the range will be similar. We pack our own branded pick-and-mix sweets in our warehouse so we’re pushing them as well.”

Healthy desserts

Another big innovation on the way is the company’s new line of Dole desserts – a soft serve dessert which is vegan, gluten-free, low fat and low sugar.

“It’s a healthy alternative to shipped ice cream. It comes in pineapple and raspberry flavours, so it’s like a sorbet but it comes out of the whipped ice cream machine,” Alan says.

“I think there’s only one other shop in Northern Ireland that’s doing it so we’re going to be pushing this in all three of our shops.”

Fittingly, the new store at Cregagh Road was actually a former donut store and Sweetez has converted it and put their own twist on it with their own style of branding.

Alan says: “When customers walk in, they’re hit by a sea of colour, our famous pink branding that we have in all of our shops. They’re hit by a sea of pink, and then they’ll see a big range of sweeties, personalised products and our donut counter when they walk in through as well, – it’s very much in their face.

Personalised service

“We can also do personalised sweet bags, so we can personalise any of our pick-and-mix bags. We do a big range of those for the likes of birthday parties, weddings and christenings. Any event that is out there, we can provide a personalised bag or bags for it.

“We’ll also do the likes of the sweet cones that you can get – we can personalise those for parties, we can do 24 of those with, say, somebody’s face on them and a message. There are lots of different things we can do for people to cater for parties.”

The plan is to keep growing and become the go-to shop if somebody wants sweet treats for an event, Alan says.

“If somebody wants sweets or a treat, we want Sweetez to be the go-to destination,” he says.

“Events are something we’ll look at at some stage, but at the moment we just want to get the shops up and running and going.

“We did take a stall at the Co Armagh show where we had our big gazebo up at it, so it’s something that we’re looking to do as well going forward.”

New locations

And the company is currently eyeing up new locations for shops, he says.

“There’s a couple in mind – we’re always looking so the plan is to just keep growing and add on when the right location becomes available. We’re not stopping at three shops,” Alan says.

“We’d like to think by the end of the year there could be another one open and then keep going again.

“Belfast is where the people are. There’s a bigger population in Belfast so we will look towards Belfast but we’ll look to keep going in different areas as well whenever we can see something suitable come up, maybe Lisburn, Belfast, that sort of direction.”

Next big thing

They will also be looking out for new ideas as well as new locations.

“We’re always looking to see the next big thing coming along,” Alan says.

“If there’s something different that somebody else doesn’t have but, you know, a gap in the market, we’ll look to exploit that. We don’t know what it is yet but we’ll keep looking out for that. The Dole and the donuts, those are the big growth areas.

“The Gangsta Donut brand that we have there is our key growth area, I feel at the minute, because we’re finding that, especially in Belfast, that one in every two customers that’s going to the till is purchasing donuts.

“They’re made fresh every day so you can rely on them being fresh as well . We also do coffee under the Gangsta brand, so we do have a deal there – a donut and a coffee deal as well in the shop and that’s been popular.”

To read the full feature in Neighbourhood Retailer, click HERE.

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