Connolly’s SPAR currently employs 20 staff from the local community, and Henderson Retail, which will operate the new EUROSPAR Downpatrick set to open at the end of April, has announced that 17 of these staff will move to the new superstore, as well as an additional 50 new jobs being created.

Connolly’s SPAR will close on Thursday 18^th April.

Martin and Fiona took over the store in 1997, and over the years have made major investments including two significant refurbishments, the biggest in 2006, to bring top quality products and services to the community.

Alongside their store staff, the couple has always had the community at the centre of their store, often supporting local schools including Our Lady and St Patrick’s College, St Mary’s and De La Salle High School. The store team also fundraised for local charities and supported local community groups and organisations, such as Fountain Foodbank.

‘We want to extend a huge thanks to our shoppers for supporting us over the past 27 years’

“We want to thank all our staff, past and present, for their hard work and dedication over the years, and helping the store become such a big part of the local community,” said Fiona.

“We also want to extend a huge thanks to our shoppers for supporting us over the past 27 years. We have loved serving this community and it has been a pleasure to see friendly faces instore every day and get to know everyone so well. We will miss working in the Downpatrick community and wish all our staff the best of luck with their move to the brand-new store.”

Paddy Doody, Sales and Marketing Director at Henderson Group, added: “Fiona and Martin Connolly are dedicated retailers and we wish to congratulate them on a successful 27 years of Connolly’s SPAR.

“They are much-loved by the local community and passionate about their shoppers, supporting charities and local schools in Downpatrick. They will be greatly missed by all in the local community.”

The instore Community Team will be dedicated to making a positive difference throughout the Downpatrick community and the store will continue to support various local charities and community groups.

The new store will also bring a huge supermarket offering including a hot food-to-go counter serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, Devlin’s local butcher counter and a Texaco fuel site. Fresh Delish favourites will be available for shoppers with the Delish Bakery offering freshly baked goods every day, and the Delish production Kitchen where meals will be prepared in store, as well as everyday essentials and a focus on value for shoppers.

Fiona and Martin also own and run Connolly’s ViVO Essentials in Strangford, which they will be continuing to operate, alongside their son Aidan.

The post Local retailers thank shoppers for years of support as community store set to close first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

Store manager Erin Doherty was on stage to collect the award at the Neighbourhood Retailer Awards on Friday 20^th October, when she spoke of her delight at the win, saying it “meant everything”.

Judges for Category 1 stores looked at all aspects of the customer offering particularly the merchandising, store services and customer care.

ViVO Essentials Ballygowan was praised for being “a clean and tidy store”, with the judges noting the “friendly staff” and the “well curated range of merchandise”.

Independently judged by Spotcheck, the awards were judged to exacting standards over a three-month period.

The Neighbourhood Retailer Awards reward excellence, recognise achievement, raise industry standards, and reward entrepreneurial spirit and are Northern Ireland’s most prestigious retail awards.

The post ViVO Essentials Ballygowan staff and store praised as they win Store of the Year Category 1 award first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

The festive initiative runs from 26 September – 18 December, promising huge value deals on high demand products, including one week of double deals. Retailers taking part can be promised a significant spike in sales throughout the three months, with data from 2021 showing a 20% growth in sales from the previous year.

12 Deals of Christmas has become Henderson Wholesale’s flagship footfall and sales driving initiative for its stores, which sees the wholesaler invest around £1.7M to provide the cut price deals for retailers to offer shoppers.

Since its inception in 2016, retail sales have experienced growth of over 67% after generating over £5.9M sales in 2021.

The campaign takes on added significance this year as millions of households across Northern Ireland are feeling the effects of rising household costs, as the cost of living crisis continues to take a grip on the country.

Sara Murphy, Marketing Manager at Henderson Group says this was ever present when creating the campaign for 2022: “We have retailers in every city, town, village and community across Northern Ireland, whose shoppers rely on them to be trusted and provide value where they possibly can.

“This year we launched Mega Deals, where shoppers can take advantage of a vastly cut price, high demand product each week, which our research shows is helping shoppers with their essential shops through the week.

“Christmas is weighing heavily on consumers’ shoulders this year, so we are conscious that our deals will have quite an expectation to help towards that long shopping list for the festive season. 12 Deals comprises a total of 13 products across 12 weeks that can not only be stored away for Christmas but will also be useful for any day use in the run-up when budgeting is even tighter.”

Shoppers agree, with over 80% stating SPAR’s 12 Deals of Christmas campaign offers were better than supermarket prices*, with 71% saying the campaign would make them want to shop at SPAR, EUROSPAR and ViVO branded stores more often*.

Sara continued: “The direct feedback from shoppers, alongside the sharp sales growth over the past six years, shows this is a campaign that resonates and delivers for retailers. There is a deal for everyone, and the anticipation for the 2022 deals is great. We’re excited for them to land in stores in the run up to Christmas.”

Retailers will also benefit from a fully integrated marketing campaign, marking an investment of over £525,000 alone. TV ads will feature families who have gotten carried away with the deals, unable to resist a bargain, while adshels and 48-sheets will complement radio and social media activity, engaging with some of Northern Ireland’s most well-known faces.

Week one of 12 Deals of Christmas kicks off Monday 26^th September, with 10 and 12 packs of Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Fanta and Fanta Zero less than half price at £3.25. For more, visit spar-ni.co.uk.

The post SPAR NI’s 12 Deals of Christmas returns promising retailers festive basket spend spike first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

As Platinum sponsor of The Show, the team at SPAR NI will be welcoming visitors to their stand where they can sample SPAR’s wide range of high quality tonight’s tea products, created in collaboration with local producers, while playing host to tractor-loads of family fun and giveaways across the four days in May.

SPAR NI will also sponsor the Children’s Farm in the Healthy Horticultural Village, while the on-site SPAR store will provide fresh sandwiches, snacks and coffee for visitors and exhibitors for the duration of The Show.

Bronagh Luke, Head of Corporate Marketing at Henderson Group which owns SPAR in Northern Ireland said the whole team is looking forward to experiencing Balmoral at its best this May.

“We are looking forward to the buzz of those famous four days at Balmoral, meeting the visitors, providing samples of our locally produced food and enjoying new experiences,” she said.

“This is the 11^th year SPAR has been a Platinum Sponsor of The Show, and our brand is continuing to build productive partnerships with local farmers and suppliers to produce innovative products which visitors to the Show and our stand this year can sample, and pick up in their local SPAR stores.”

Henderson Group, which owns the SPAR brand in Northern Ireland, sources over 75% of its fresh food locally, and SPAR NI’s own brands, SPAR Enjoy Local, The Kitchen, The CHEF and Greengrocer’s ranges are created in collaboration with local farmers, growers and producers and available in almost 500 SPAR, EUROSPAR, ViVO, ViVOXTRA and ViVO Essentials stores across Northern Ireland.

Bronagh said: “Local has taken on a whole new meaning in the past couple of years. Shoppers are even more reliant on getting good value and trusted customer experiences with their local retailers, who became the hubs of their communities during the Pandemic. We’re here to show that SPAR is at the heart of their community, providing every day value with faces in-store who they know and trust.”

While at the Show, SPAR NI will also support charity partner Marie Curie alongside EUROSPAR and ViVOXTRA charity partner, Cancer Fund for Children with their now instantly recognisable red Stetsons, which visitors can pick up from the SPAR NI stand for a small donation towards the charities.

“Visitors to the Show are incredibly generous and it’s fantastic to see the sea of red hats amongst the crowds around Balmoral Park. We have no doubt the crowds will once again be extremely generous towards our two very deserving charity partners.,” Bronagh said.

Caption: Bronagh Luke, Head of Corporate Marketing at Henderson Group is pictured with Vickie White, Business Development Executive, RUAS. 

The post SPAR NI returns to Balmoral with host of family fun for this year’s Show first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

Weekly Mega Deals will see one high demand item drop in price each week in a bid to cushion consumers from the on-going effects of increased living costs on their shopping receipts.

No stranger to the concept, SPAR and EUROSPAR’s 12 Deals of Christmas campaign has been a huge success for retailers over the past six years, and also helped shoppers budget better in the run up to Christmas with the spotlight on a weekly deal at cut price.

Sara Murphy, Marketing Manager at Henderson Group, says the success of 12 Deals of Christmas has helped them establish how they can bring such high value in a more sustained way for the shopper, when so much is uncertain with every day household costs rising by the day.

“Our investment in value is not a new concept for Henderson Group – however it is a key strategy for us as we help consumers negotiate the after effects of a pandemic and as every day household expenses rise,” she said.

“We want to ensure value on big brand items is not just seasonal, but all year round, we have an exceptional local fresh foods sourcing strategy which keeps deals consistent in our stores throughout the year. Mega Deals is our opportunity to extend that to wider national brands and household essentials.

“Mega Deals will take market leading brands and deliver them at deep cut prices, bringing added value to our shoppers across SPAR, EUROSPAR, ViVO, ViVOXTRA and ViVO Essentials stores.”

Henderson Group research has found that 82% of shoppers state that value is the most important factor when considering which store to visit, and therefore 43% will travel to the store that has the cheapest products – even if that is not their nearest store.

Sara added: “At the start of the year, we launched the first of SPAR’s new brand pillars under its new Joy of Living Locally strategy – Value on Your Doorstep. Mega Deals aims to show those shoppers who will travel for deals that they don’t need to, that our investment in value and commitment to community retailing means those low cost items are already close to home.”

Henderson Group will launch Mega Deals across all 480 SPAR, EUROSPAR, ViVO, ViVOXTRA and ViVO Essentials stores in Northern Ireland with a marketing strategy spanning national TV and radio, print and digital media, as well as outdoor and in-store opportunities to capture an increased audience.

For more and for each weekly deal, visit spar-ni.co.uk or eurosparni.co.uk.

Caption: Sara Murphy, Marketing Manager at Henderson Group launches the Weekly Mega Deals initiative

The post Henderson Group launch Mega value impact for NI shoppers first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.