60 years at the centre of Irish communities

As a household name inextricably linked with Ireland’s convenience sector, Spar’s 60th anniversary here in Ireland is a cause for genuine celebration, and one which the brand has wasted no time in celebrating in a veritable cornucopia of innovative and memorable ways, from Thomas Ennis’ pop-up retro store at Johnson Place in Dublin 2, fitted out with an exact replica of the brand’s original signage as it first appeared back in 63; to joining forces with the Tree Council of Ireland to plant 20,000 trees nationwide this year as part of the‘Spar Team Tree’ initiative – a nice tie-in in with the pithy‘Under the Tree since‘63’ commemorative slogan

Reflecting on the milestone anniversary, Spar sales director Colin Donnelly says that especially after the challenges of the pandemic, the team felt it was particularly“important to celebrate success and certainly the Spar brand in Ireland has been a success. A sixtieth anniversary is a milestone in anybody’s life, but in a business, it’s truly fantastic and so important.”

Longevity

Throughout our conversation, Donnelly repeatedly emphasises that at their core, the celebrations are all about the people involved throughout the past six decades: Spar’s independent retailers and their continued commitment to their local communities.“We held our convention earlier this year and there were families in the room who were here 60 years ago. The first store in Ireland was opened in 1963 by the Ralphs. Their family are still in the business and are opening a new store in Donacarney.” In fact, there were three retailers there on the night whose roots stretch back to 1963 with the Spar brand; Mary Forde in Spar Tallow, who recently reopened after a fire decimated her store back in November, and also the Nagles who are now partnered with the Eurospar brand.“Those three families were there on day one and they’re still trading and it’s that sense of longevity and continued success which is so important.”

True partnership has been the key to this success, according to Donnelly “The key part of our partnership is that all our independent retailers choose to trade under the banner of Spar and that’s something that we’re proud of. From my perspective as a Spar sales director, it’s a true partnership, and that’s crucial –people do business with people and you can see that throughout our journey. We’re only as good as our retailers and that’s something that I’m personally very proud of The length and breadth of Ireland, we’ve got so many different types of stores that trade under our umbrella at Spar and across them all, our partnership is very strong and growing.”

Continual evolution

What’s more, despite the huge evolution which has occurred throughout the past six decades in Ireland’s convenience sector as a whole, with Spar frequently at the forefront as a pioneer of those same changes, the essence of the brand has remained the same –“serving the community”. By taking a bird’s-eye panorama of the past 60 years,“you can look back and see what happened in the 60s, 70s and 80s and 90s. Every single year, something evolved and changed and we’re seeing new trends and implementing those; that has evolved but ultimately, it’s about serving the customer. Ultimately, back in 1963 when a Spar opened, it was to serve the community and nothing has changed on that Obviously, what we sell now is somewhat different to what we sold back in the day, but our ethos has remained the same.”

At the time of our interview in May, Donnelly revealed that while it was still“fairly early in 2023, Spar is in a good place” following strong growth in excess of 7% last year:“We have outgrown the market and I’m very proud of that,” he notes, conceding:“We all anticipated that things were going to get tough; we listen to the media and follow inflationary trends but growth has nevertheless continued, and I’m very confident now we’re coming up to the busy period that we’re going to meet our sales growth for the rest of the year.”

Growth outlook

“It’s very important for me, that we continue the growth of new stores,” Donnelly adds.“Last year, I’m very proud to say we opened 30 stores so the momentum is there. We recently opened a store in Wexford, so the growth is fair for new stores.”

Commenting on the present market post-pandemic, his outlook is upbeat.“There is continuity, there’s good movement and progress and retailers are looking at opportunities and we’re really seeing that. Good retailers are looking for new opportunities to expand their portfolio and we also have some new entrants coming into the market So, our ambition is to continue to grow the store numbers and judging by last year, it’s looking good There’s a good pipeline there.”

Pipeline of upcoming stores

A“greenfield” store – i.e., a completely new store on a new site – would normally take six months to develop from start to finish, explains Donnelly, which is why a consistent focus on the brand’s up-and-coming “pipeline” is vital.“I’m ambitious and confident that I know where the next stores are coming from over the next couple of months, although they won’t open until the latter half of the year because the work is currently happening,” he says.“Overall, we’re on track to have a successful couple of years judging by what’s coming up in the pipeline and the figures that we’re experiencing give us confidence that we’re going to achieve that.”

While greenfield sites often attract the greatest number of business news headlines, Spar’s“pipeline” of new stores encompasses a variety of opportunities, ranging from those retailers seeking to join the brand as the right fit for them to“an element of brownfield sites; sites that were closed for a number of years and then all of a sudden are revived with the regeneration of a community.” Donnelly explains.“We opened a few brownfield units as we call them, and others are forecourt opportunities”.

We were keen to hear more about where the new stores coming on board this year are located?“I’m glad to say that they’re across the country, ” responds Donnelly Some of the locations for recent openings include Wexford, Limerick and a number in Dublin “It was the same last year,” he adds.“If I look at the stores we opened, they were right across the country, from Galway, Donegal, and the South East, so there is good representation and we are delivering throughout the country.

“The cost of entry is a big challenge in Dublin,” he concedes.“If you look at Dublin city centre, there’s a lot of empty units but high rents would make it challenging for any business to go in and make it valuable.” That said, it can be done and“actually we do have plans for something in Dublin city centre that we’re working on so it’s not impossible, but it’s certainly a different challenge and a different marketplace for independent retailers to get involved in the city centre,” he says. While“further opportunities will come where there’s lesser challenge from a rental perspective,” Donnelly adds that“every single opportunity has to be accessed on its own merit, case by case. Ultimately, it is a volume-based business and when you’re looking at any new business, you’ve got to look at the location, the opportunity and the competitors in the area.”

Pioneers

Speaking of opportunities, Spar has always been to the forefront of new developments and trends in the market during the past 60 years, which Donnelly proceeds to discuss in greater detail “If I look back over the years at my involvement in Spar, when I joined, I was involved in the food strategy We have a huge heritage in foodservice but I remember back in 2005, if you look back; we didn’t invent the sale of coffee but we were the first to bring premium coffee into convenience in Spar, and likewise with food, it became important to sell not just sandwiches but to really deliver that quality piece.”

“Times have changed; people are looking at different options, so you’ve got to move with that and over the years, we’ve evolved our offering, which can clearly be seen throughout our Spar Better Choices campaign, which is encouraging people to choose a healthier option, be it from the deli or take-home offering.” That said, old habits die hard, and the chicken fillet roll continues to drive sales, but now that classic offering has been complemented with the introduction of a plant-based alternative, in the same way that Spar is meeting the increased trend for iced coffees while supplying quality versions of more classic choices such as the cappuccino.

Serving the community

“Ultimately, it’s important that if a consumer, be it in O’Connell Street in Dublin or Limerick or Cork, that when they come into the store that they can get what they want, whether it’s 7am or 7pm. That’s been the key to the longevity of the brand.” This also extends to the provision of a range of services which is many cases would have previously been offered by the local standalone post office, before a wave of closures sweeped the country.“I can tell you that retailers don’t make huge money on selling services but it’s something that’s very important within their own community, that they are serving that community, so we’re always looking at new opportunities from the perspective of ensuring that we remain relevant and competitive and are delivering real innovation within that. Ireland is a very competitive market, possibly the most competitive in Europe, notwithstanding that we also have to ensure our retailers can stand up against all competitors, including large multiples. We’re confident that we’re continuing to support our retailers in that way. ”

What’s more, to ensure the brand is continuing to deliver for all its independent retailers, encompassing all the different types of Spar stores, ranging from neighbourhood to forecourts and ultra-convenience/ lifestyle, they must all benefit from the same high level of innovation and attention to detail.”To illustrate this is more detail, Donnelly alludes to a pertinent example on Dublin’s O’Connell Street where there are two Spar stores“right across the street from each other.”While both display the same exterior signage and consistency that customers across the country routinely expect from the Spar brand as simply a daily matter of course, each of the two stores delivers a tailored offering which caters to its specific customer profile, and the overall Spar design was developed“in response ” to this need for flexibility

Tailored to customer needs

“That’s one thing I think we’re very good at; we have a consistent look and feel so that from the outset, a Spar is a Spar to the consumer, but we have thought carefully about what each specific store needs so that it’s a response to the customer and the demographics. The public won’t be aware of that, but we’re very conscious of it and our offering has to reflect that.”

Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic also shaped the sector in a variety of temporary and long-term ways

“During the pandemic, all the in-store seating areas for obvious reasons were closed down so our retailers being innovative in the way they are, they used the space to sell more grocery. That was very much the case in forecourts and ultra-convenience stores that probably traditionally wouldn’t have sold a lot of grocery. That wasn’t planned but again it shows the strength of entrepreneurship; once again serving the community at a time when people had to shop locally.” The rewards of this initiative continue for many such retailers today:“These types of stores are now entrusted to sell more groceries, because customers had a very good experience. That’s probably due to a stickiness campaign; we’ve retained a lot of customers which is very good and contributing to the growth that I spoke about earlier We’re selling more traditional products than we did pre-pandemic so that’s an area which retailers have tapped into.”

While the retention of this business as a result of Spar retailers demonstrating the first-class service, value and range they can deliver has been a welcome development, the permanent shift towards more working from home and hybrid working continues to impact stores within business parks, but those retailers have once again adapted to suit their current climate. “Our business park retailers had to adapt to that and use that opportunity to make sure that on those two or three days that people are in the office, our stores are prepared for them. It’s not going to return to what we used to have because there’s a want across the country for a greater work life balance and that has changed the offering and sales ratio in business parks and city centre stores.”

Inspiration

Adapting to the times is a skill Donnelly has certainly honed during his past 21 years with the Spar brand. “Throughout my time at BWG, I have only ever worked for Spar so I’m very passionate about the brand,” he says “By 2015, I had worked in all the roles in the sales team in Spar, from retail advisory to regional manager to national sales manager. That year, BWG’s Leo Crawford appointed me to the role of the ultimate job in Spar of sales director and I have to say that was an inspiration That was personally my proudest day in business but also for my family to see me come through the ranks and be rewarded.”

The focus on promoting from within is an important part of Spar’s ethos, he continues “Through Leo and his leadership, our ethos is that hard work is rewarded. I see it with my own team and I take great inspiration and satisfaction from making sure that I develop their skill sets. That is something that I’m very proud of, and even in my own team, two of my colleagues have since been appointed onto the board; they came through my tuition. That’s the ethos that we have here, that we promote within and I would have to say that Leo has been part of the Spar success longer than Colin Donnelly has. We’re very much an open book.

It’s clear throughout our interview that Donnelly has genuine admiration for Spar’s retailers.“They’re independent retailers and they’re with Spar because they want to be with Spar and that to me is again the ethos that we have here; it’s a personal thing.Yes, it’s a business relationship but up and down the country, that ethos is something that is very important for our brand and our culture. It’s a culture thing and it’s something that really sits well with myself and I would get inspiration from the way we do business and that sets us apart from our competition in many ways.” This attitude is summed up by the reaction to Spar’s latest conference:“Everyone was asking‘When is our next get-together?” That’s a good culture to have.” ■