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STORE PROFILE
Actionpacked
Bobby O’Reilly, the owner of Centra Johnstown Road, Cabinteely and Centra Ballybrack, tells Julia O’Reilly about his eventful year Bobby O’Reilly has had a busy year. Between acquiring his second shop and completing two full store revamps amid a pandemic, it’s hard to believe he’s had a minute to catch his breath. And yet, when ShelfLife magazine caught up with the store owner, he made it clear that he’s not slowing down anytime soon. The proud owner of two stores in the Dublin suburbs - Centra Johnstown Road and Centra Ballybrack - O’Reilly has been in the business since 2005, when he worked as an assistant manager at Centra Bellevue Road, Glenageary.
A place of his own By 2011, he was looking for a place of his own, but without much luck. “There wasn’t a lot out there,” he says. “During the Celtic Tiger years, places were going for such crazy money.” “The opportunity to acquire the Johnstown Road site came up. I was glad to have been able to acquire Johnstown Road at that time.” O’Reilly immediately started making
Bobby O’Reilly bought his first store in Cabinteely, Co. Dublin in 2011 and has since added Centra Ballybrack to his portfolio
improvements to the store: “Back then it was a single shop unit and an off-licence. I did a small revamp on it. A few years later, when the unit next-door became available we were able to knock the three units together to create this bigger, more open store.” Once the Cabinteely store was running well, O’Reilly knew it was time to try something new. “I started to get the itch again, so I approached Musgrave about buying Centra Ballybrack.”
Untapped potential The Ballybrack store had a lot of potential, which meant there was plenty of competition for it. Still, O’Reilly had a clear vision: “I wanted to do a full revamp, enhance the core range, put in our special offers, and fill the shop with fresh food and a brand-new deli. I also knew I could improve the off-licence offering with a mix of budget and premium alcohol.” In April of this year, that dream became reality when O’Reilly closed the doors for
The Cabinteely team frequently promote in-store deals on social media, driving further footfall
ShelfLife September 2021 | www.shelflife.ie
three whole days to carry out a complete store revamp. “We closed at 9pm on Saturday night, and worked through the night and all day Sunday. Between the builders, our store manager and regional manager, we had a lot of great people working on the revamp. We were lucky everything worked out so well.”
Sales boost After putting in the hard work, they got to enjoy the rewards: “Customer feedback has been phenomenal. As well as seeing a significant sales boost since renovating, we’ve loved seeing the response from customers. It’s been out of this world.” Hindsight is a gift, one that owners of multiple stores can often make use of. That previous July, it was Johnstown Road’s turn to get made over. However that time, the doors remained open, and the job continued for six weeks. “It should have taken three and a half weeks. But between social distancing and night work, it went on longer than we’d hoped. We learned a lot from the experience.
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