{"id":24306,"date":"2022-07-26T10:46:41","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T10:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/?p=24306"},"modified":"2022-07-26T10:46:41","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T10:46:41","slug":"fayre-thee-well-inside-the-new-fayre-at-corries-food-hall-in-belfasts-cherryvalley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/fayre-thee-well-inside-the-new-fayre-at-corries-food-hall-in-belfasts-cherryvalley\/","title":{"rendered":"Fayre thee well: Inside the new Fayre at Corries food hall in Belfast\u2019s Cherryvalley."},"content":{"rendered":"

If you thought Corries was a traditional butchers – think again. The chain may have started off that way, with farm butcher\u2019s shops across Belfast and north Down, but it\u2019s fast becoming a mecca for all things artisan.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In recent weeks the business announced that it had acquired the three branches of Knotts Bakery in Newtownards and following on from the success of its online offer, launched during the pandemic, it has just launched its groundbreaking new food hall, Fayre at Corries.<\/p>\n

That new launch has come about after Corries acquired Four Seasons Greengrocers and Delicatessen in Cherryvalley, which has provided an extensive range of in-house ready meals and delivery services for fruit and vegetables and other foods, especially cheese and charcuterie, over many years to the people of east Belfast.<\/p>\n

Corries Farm Butchers already had a branch in Cherryvalley in the same row of shops as the new premises, as Stock and Compliance Manager Julie Hope explains.<\/p>\n

Customer base<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOur shop in Cherryvalley was established in 2008 and it’s a great area, with a lovely customer base, most visiting us every day so the staff would know them quite well – it’s a great community,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo Gary McNally, the owner of Four Seasons Deli and Greengrocers, had approached my brother William Corrie in early 2021 about purchasing the property as he was considering early retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n

With bigger premises, this triggered the concept of a new style of shop, keeping the fruit and veg\/ deli alongside the butcher.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe purchase of Knotts – meant we had a a baker, which would sit nicely with the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julie says her grandfather Willie Corrie had moved from Monaghan to the Ards Peninsula in 1947 and set up Drumhilla Farm – the family farm that is still at the root of the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was approached by a neighbour on the road and asked if he could butcher one of his cattle.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that was the first customer and then it led from there – now we have seven retail shops and an online delivery service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retail launch<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1977, Willie and his son Will Corrie launched the first retail shop on the farm itself, but it wasn\u2019t until 2000 that the first town shop was opened by Will\u2019s eldest son Gareth in Regent Street in Newtownards.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarly on was a lot of bulk buys, such as hindquarters or forequarters. But the nature of shopping has changed so much – a lot of people just buy from day to day. So we knew there was a drive at that stage for Gareth to open the town shop, providing the convenience of location.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still offer the bulk buy aspect at the farm but it\u2019s not as popular as it used to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom there, Will\u2019s youngest son William Corrie came on board and he opened a shop in Ballyhackamore. After that came Holywood, then Cherryvalley, then Ormeau Road, then Comber Road in Dundonald.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artisan foods<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the pandemic, the family began to notice a growing appreciation for artisan local foods which prompted the launch of their online shop, which in turn allowed them to offer a wider range.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver lockdown, demand soared for fresh local produce, and Brexit highlighted how much was being imported and how much we have on our doorstep,\u201d Julie says.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople also realised how much better local produce was. Also supermarket delivery slots filled up so quickly that we were able to step into the gap and deliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also had the opportunity to access a large range of produce and not be restricted by shop shelves with our online service. It also gave us the opportunity to work much more with our fantastic local producers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to be that medium for those suppliers to be able to sell their products through to our audience. It was a great opportunity and we forged relationships with a lot of suppliers and we realised how much extra produce there was out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started throughout existing app and then in autumn 2021 with the help of Eyekiller we launched our new ecommerce website, offering both home delivery and click and collect at any of our stores. We are constantly looking at the demand, changing how we are serving the community,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Showcase hall<\/strong><\/p>\n

The next step is now that Corries can showcase those products in their new larger food hall at Fayre at Corries in Cherryvalley..<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that we have these shelves we will be able to make it available for walking in and purchasing, not restricting it to online,\u201d Julie says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are lovely cheeses, crackers, charcuterie, apple juice from Armagh and lots more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The main department in the new food hall will still be Corries meat, Julie says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’ll be the main counter that you can go and get your roast or your cuts to your liking, because that\u2019s the great thing about your local butcher, you can get it exactly as you want it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have an extensive prepack range, and then we will also be using the Four Seasons fruit and veg range to be able to offer meal pairings. Through this you can get your roast veg to go and your potato to go with the roast that you’ve got.<\/p>\n

Meal pairings<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOr if you\u2019re going for a steak night you can go and get your mushrooms or your crispy onions or your pepper sauce, you can lift from all areas of the shop. That’s what we\u2019re excited about, being able to offer a full meal plan and not having to go down the road for the next bit and so on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen of course, through Knotts we\u2019ll be able to offer the dessert option too, and then there will be a wider range of cakes and traybakes and scones.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have an oven in the shop so we\u2019re going to be freshly baking croissants and cookies every day. And for those people just wanting sheer convenience, there will be pies, there\u2019ll be bakes, there\u2019ll be things for you to grab and pop in the oven.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019ll be everything from your roast dinners to your lasagne, garlic potatoes and coleslaw – the range is huge. It could be chicken curry and rice, it could be a big portion of stew, chicken and broccoli pasta bake – whatever you fancy, it will hopefully be there for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kitchen expansion<\/strong><\/p>\n

To accommodate that expansion, Corrie\u2019s will be growing their kitchen production at the farm, but also via Knotts.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow with having Knotts, we have the option of production across both sites,\u201d Julie says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen of course, you\u2019ve got the wealth of knowledge from the chefs within Knotts, so all the recipe development across both businesses are very exciting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking to offer that little bit more because we want to be more than just your standard local convenience store, we want to be able to offer something a wee bit more than just your sausages in a prepack and your chicken goujons in a prepack. We\u2019ve a lot of exciting new products coming in over the next while so watch this space.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis gives us an opportunity now to be able to research what else we can offer the customer, so that convenience doesn’t mean that you\u2019re just going to be getting that bog standard range. We\u2019ll be looking at the presentation of it, and just upping that standard, so that people are still getting that gourmet option but with the convenience of a prepack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe value our customer feedback and will be keen to hear from everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Major renovation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The premises have undergone considerable renovation since they were acquired by Corries, Julie says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve added an upstairs for improved storage and an office space, and then that frees up more space down on the ground floor. We\u2019ve pretty much gutted it, we took the roof off, we added another layer,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re putting in the oven which can bake croissants and the cookies and different things fresh every day, several times a day. It’s basically a blank canvas, and it’s exciting to see the design grow. Even as the purchase of Knotts came in we allocated a bigger area for them, whereas before we were just looking for a baker to come on board for just a small part of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve tried to make each area slightly different with the colours being used and there are lovely tiles in place. So it’s a mix of a modern store but still a lovely aspect of tiles and not just all PVC printed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Future potential<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even after the launch, there will still more ways of developing Fayre at Corries, Julie says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much potential – we\u2019ve got our fresh orange juice machine coming in, we\u2019ve got the freshly baked bread, so those things could lead to other things. We\u2019re trying to look at our sustainability aspect, so we\u2019re looking at those dispensers for your granola, your seeds and those things in and around your fresh produce.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at reducing our packaging, and we\u2019d love just to be that lighter carbon footprint within the store.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have maybe sampling, maybe demos, maybe a night where people could come in, maybe looking at Christmas. There\u2019s so much you could possibly do but at the moment we\u2019ll get up and running first. We\u2019\u2019ll be quite keen to get the feedback from the customers to see what they are looking for within the community, so watch this space.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the minute it’s such a different business – going from a butchery to a bakery and cafe and whatnot – that we\u2019re really taking our time to get our heads around that business first and then look at it. But obviously there\u2019s such potential when you\u2019ve got a restaurant, catering staff and a bakery – there’s lots of exciting plans!\u201d<\/p>\n

To read the full feature<\/a>, visit the June\/July edition of Neighbourhood Retailer<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you thought Corries was a traditional butchers – think again. The chain may have started off that way, with farm butcher\u2019s shops across Belfast<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":24316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[4383,2668,109,5510,344,3991,2641,5511,5513,4987,5509,5514,5506,5507,3855,5245,4992,3798,4640,2012,4989,2576,5512,4726,5508],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Fayre8-scaled-e1658832269293.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24306"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24317,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24306\/revisions\/24317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}