The new-build superstore represents a £3 million investment by the family, and has brought 50 new jobs to the area.

The family, which marks 45 years in business, has worked hard to grow and develop the business over that time and now proudly employs 500 people throughout its estate of stores across the north west and Mid Ulster regions.

Situated in a high footfall and commuter area, Lynch’s have invested in a complete service station offering a host of services including their own bakery and deli food to go alongside a ‘build your own’ Acai bowl station, Lick Gelato counter and The Vineyard off licence.

Not resting on their laurels, there are already plans afoot for another store, having acquired a store in Whitehouse as they gear it up for a full transformation into a flagship EUROSPAR store in January next year.

Gary Lynch said the family were very proud to open their 11^th retail outlet, and their fifth under the EUROSPAR brand.

“Providing local employment and engaging with the local communities and neighbourhoods where we operate is very important to us as a family and a business,” he said.

The post Award-winning family business opens 11th store first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

Recognised for his drive and determination by judges, John Fox was praised for working tirelessly to achieve concrete goals, partnering closely with his team to deliver exceptional results.

Evidence of this can be seen throughout the County Down store, which is completing an extensive expansion and redevelopment, with John’s commitment to improving the offering the store provides to its customers and consideration for consumer demands all having been taken into account in the process.

Judges said resting on his laurels was not in John’s vocabulary, with his sights set on ambitious targets to take the store to new heights. Overseeing the redevelopment at the store, John has been central to ensuring that feedback from customers helps form the basis of improvements.

Ahead of the works beginning last September, John and the team asked customers for their input and feedback on what they wanted in the store, what could be done better and what was being pushed too much.

“Customers were asking for our own meals, more parking, more offering of fresh foods and an in-store bakery,” said John.

“We have launched our own in-store production kitchen, the eighth in-store one for Henderson’s.

“We have put so much into it and seeing it being recognised now is very rewarding and a great boost to know you’re getting it right.”

Describing his award win as “fantastic”, John said it was a special night catching up with many familiar faces within the industry here.

“You cannot put into words what it’s like to win when you are there. When my name was called out in the shortlist, there were so many cheers, I couldn’t believe it,” he said.

“When my name was called out as the winner, I was just completely surprised, it was wonderful. The whole night was brilliant.”

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH JOHN FOX IN THE MAY ISSUE OF NR HERE

The post Setting sights on ambitious targets first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

Trading since May 2016, Balmoral was the third store to open in the Creighton Group.

Owned by Niall Creighton and his sister, Gail Boyd, the company now extends to four sites, with the Balmoral store standing proudly at 6000 sq ft.

Over the last number of years they have grown key parts of their store, with the deli and fresh food now critical components of the business.

Employing some 75 staff across full-time and part-time, General Manager Andrew Porter has been working for the company for over 30 years and has witnessed impressive growth in the business and throughout the industry here.

“The most significant thing I would say is the standards of stores throughout the country, they are all so impressive now,” Andrew told NR.

“There has been a demand and the standard of stores, and retail standards generally, are second-to-none, and that has been a big change over the years.

“The stores here were always ahead, but going back 30 years people didn’t care as much how products were put on the shelves, but now everything has got to be perfect.”

With such high praise for store standards across Northern Ireland, Andrew said they had no expectations of winning the top title at this year’s Neighbourhood Retailer Awards.

“We won Store of the Year Category 3 and were delighted with that. When it came to the Retailer of the Year award, we had absolutely no idea that we were going to win in,” said Andrew.

“We see it as a very prestigious award, and a very hard one to win – there are so many good stores, so we are absolutely delighted.”

Built in a highly residential area, the Creighton Group was limited in the space they had for building the Balmoral store, and as demand for bigger and better deli and hot food products increased, they had to use some creative thinking as to how they could grow the space.

“We couldn’t go up or out, so we had to go down,” said Andrew. Giving NR a tour of their production kitchen, Andrew proudly discusses the quality of the food produced by their dedicated kitchen staff.

“In the last five years, we started off with a small production kitchen in the basement of the business. That started to grow and in the last few years, we have a really good team of staff in there and we are nearly at capacity already in terms of production.”

A testament to the quality of the food and cooking, in the last three years Creightons of Balmoral have won four Great Taste Awards, three for soups and in 2024 they won one for their lasagne.

“That really rubberstamps everything that’s going on in there,” said Andrew.

“We wanted to build a kitchen as we wanted to put fresh food and deli as the main part of our business and it has worked very well for us. It’s very hard work and it was challenging in the early days, but now we’re producing consistently first-class products.

“These are commonly the first parts of business you would get complaints, and happily we rarely get complaints. We’re making more than ever, we’re selling more than ever and everybody seems to be happy.”

YOU CAN SEE THE FULL FEATURE ON CREIGHTONS OF BALMORAL IN THE NOVEMBER-DECEMBER ISSUE OF NEIGHBOURHOOD RETAILER, CLICK HERE

The post 2024 Retailer of the Year – Creightons of Balmoral first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

This brings Henderson Group’s total donate on to their charity partner, Cancer Fund for Children to £1.87 million since the partnership began 13 years ago.

The event, proudly supported by Barista Bar Coffee and Kingsmill, kicked off September’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. 90 community supermarkets got involved across the weekend of the 6^th to 8th September and held a coffee morning in aid of Cancer Fund for Children.

While Cancer Fund for Children fundraises all year round, a special focus is placed on Childhood Cancer Awareness Month which is when the charity focuses on raising awareness of the impact of childhood cancer on young people and families.

Shoppers were invited to visit any EUROSPAR or ViVOXTRA store throughout the weekend, including flagship stores, EUROSPAR Linn Road, JD Hunter & Co. Markethill, Smyth’s EUROSPAR Ballymoney, ViVOXTRA Banbridge, EUROSPAR Dromara, Swift’s EUROSPAR Lisnaskea and EUROSPAR Ranfurly in Dungannon.

In addition to providing tea, coffee and sweet treats for shoppers in exchange for a donation, a number of stores went the extra mile to encourage donations for the vital charity. Team members at ViVOXTRA Castledawson took part in an exercise bike challenge instore and Marshall and Skye from Paw Patrol paid a special visit to the store to meet shoppers. The EUROSPAR Dromara and JD Hunter & Co. teams took part in instore spinathons, while Smyth’s EUROSPAR Ballymoney welcomed volunteers from Cancer Fund for Children to join staff in bucket collections throughout the weekend.

RAISING VITAL FUNDS

Phil Alexander, CEO at Cancer Fund for Children said: “Every month approximately 12 children and young people (aged 0-24) are diagnosed with cancer in Northern Ireland.

“We understand the devastating impact a childhood cancer diagnosis has on families and it is our mission to make sure all young people across the island of Ireland have access to the right support when it is needed most. Thanks to donations like this one from Henderson Group, we can help ensure children and young people, as well as their families, don’t have to face cancer alone.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Henderson Group for their invaluable support. The EUROSPAR and ViVOXTRA Community Coffee mornings go from strength to strength every year and they are one of the highlights in our charity’s fundraising calendar.

“The coffee mornings bring local communities together to kick off Childhood Cancer Awareness Month each year, whilst raising vital funds to help hundreds of families, ensuring they feel supported, connected and better able to cope with the emotional impact of cancer.”

Bronagh Luke from SPAR NI added: “We’re delighted to have raised £70,000 for Cancer Fund for Children this year, bringing our total to £1.87 million since our partnership began 13 years ago. Thanks to our incredible retailers and shoppers, our annual coffee mornings, which began in 2017, are our biggest fundraising events each year.

“It is an honour to kick off Childhood Cancer Awareness Month each year with this event. It was incredible to see teams from 90 EUROSPAR and ViVOXTRA supermarkets in Northern Ireland dedicate time and energy into the Community Coffee Morning this year, to raise an amazing amount of money for a very deserving charity and the many families they support.

“Well done to all teams who took part and thank you to all our shoppers for showing their support.”

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Among those sampling and demonstrating their tasty fayre in-store were Gilfresh Produce from Armagh, Simply Fruit from Craigavon, Milgro Onions from Limavady, Dale Farm, PRM and Ireland’s largest fruit and vegetable distributor, Keelings.

All producers gave shoppers the opportunity to sample their products and speak directly to them about the journey of their food from field to fork, while enjoying exclusive promotions on the products instore from 25^th to 28^th April.

JD Hunter & Co. continues to show support to their local community and beyond, with 75% of fresh foods supplied by Henderson Wholesale to independent SPAR and EUROSPAR retailers across Northern Ireland sourced from local suppliers. The showcase not only highlighted the offering available to shoppers in store, but also the range of local suppliers and quality produce available across the island of Ireland.

As part of the showcase, Lynsey Evans, Commercial Manager of Produce & Horticulture at Henderson Group, Chris McClure, Store Manager at JD Hunter & Co. and Susie Moran from Keelings all paid a visit to Markethill Primary School and St Teresa’s Primary School to give a presentation on the health benefits of fruit and vegetables, how food is harvested and information on local suppliers. Each pupil also received a supply of local produce to take home and extend the healthy eating message from the classroom to home.

JD Hunter & Co. have always been passionate about providing locally sourced produce to the community and the store was awarded Independent Fresh Produce Retailer of the Year at the Retail Industry Awards in 2022 for their expansive range and fresh offering for shoppers.

The store was acquired by South Belfast retailer and family-run business, Creightons, in 2022 and employs 145 people from the local community. The Creighton Group have three other stores across South Belfast, EUROSPAR Finaghy, EUROSPAR Balmoral and SPAR Blacks Rd.

Chris McClure, store manager at JD Hunter & Co. said: “We have amazing suppliers in Northern Ireland, and it’s always been important to us to support local. The in-store showcase was a great opportunity for our shoppers to speak to the suppliers directly and hear more about where their produce is coming from.

“Being part of the community, it’s important to have an impact on our shoppers but also on the younger children in our local schools, encouraging them to think about healthy eating and where their food is coming from. The support from our suppliers has been amazing and I want to thank them for such an engaging and informative showcase.”

The post Armagh retailer showcases benefits of locally sourced fresh food to community first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.