Nearby store profile: Retailer

The Nearby Store at Lambscross, Sandyford in Dublin is run by experienced retailer Mark Malone. His extensive bakery, busy deli and quality coffee offering have made this store a popular destination for locals and tradespeople alike. Fionnuala Carolan

speaks to him about his career to date

Nearby Lambscross is situated in a great location with a lot of residential housing within walking

distance

Bake it and they will come

When a retailer’s story begins with a long-standing career in Superquinn, you can be sure that there is probably something exceptional about their shop. Mark Malone learned his trade from 30 years in Superquinn and experience like this breeds high standards and sharp business acumen. Although he has been involved with various businesses since, he has learned that focusing all his efforts into one store is the secret to success. His Nearby store has benefited massively from shoppers staying local during the pandemic, as is the story for many retailers across the country. Concentrating on doing a few things really well has paid handsome dividends.

The shop is in a great location with a lot of residential housing within walking distance. There has been a massive amount of construction in the vicinity over the past two years, some that had started before Covid and has kicked back in now. There are about 2,000 apartments being built right beside the shop and then another 1,100 apartments being built about five mins from the shop. The council is also widening the road close by from the wellknown Lamb Doyles pub down to Marley Park, which started last month and is predicted to take about two years and the store is already benefitting from the many construction workers in the area every day.

“A lot of the builders are travelling from the north and they pull in at 6.30am and we’re the only place open so they’re queuing for the coffee,” says Malone. “There is a rush then and then they are back in at 9.30am/10am and again at 1pm.” This results in plenty of busy periods during the day. The shop is located beside a school and the community centre, a good butcher and a hairdresser with ample parking outside so the location is as good as it gets.

STORE PROFILE Retailer: Mark Malone address: Nearby Lambscross, Sandyford, Dublin 18 staff: 16 staff members opening hours: Monday – Sunday: 6.30am - 10.30pm

How it started

Originally from Ballinteer in Dublin, Malone started working in Superquinn when he was just 15 years old. Like many back then he decided not to finish school and began working there full time from this early age and stayed with the company for 30 years.

He trained in Superquinn Ballinteer and worked his way up to management in high profile shops like Blackrock. “I helped open up Superquinn Lucan as an assistant manager and then I was the manager of Bray, Sundrive, Finglas and Blanchardstown,” he explains.

“Working with the likes of Feargal Quinn was fantastic,” he recalls. “When I reached management level, I got great exposure by being brought on trips to America to look at new ideas. He would bring over 6-8 people at a time and do a tour of supermarkets there and you’d come back and have to work on say five projects each and you’d have to present that to the other managers and try to implement these ideas in-store. I was involved in the opening of Sunday trading for the first time. There was a great buzz about the place – always something new happening. If you talk to any of the Superquinn managers, they would all say the same about him. He was a one off,” he says.

Going it alone

Managing a supermarket is no doubt a tough job but very different from owning your own business. So did Malone always have dreams of going out on his own?

“Yes I think so,” he says, “but I was just waiting for the right opportunity. I took a shop in Bray with another group but that didn’t work out. I had two or three small shops after Superquinn but I just want to concentrate on the one now. Keep it simple. What is small is beautiful!” he laughs.

“When I had a number of shops I was driving from shop to shop trying to keep on top of it all but when you strip it back it’s not worth it. I saw the results here straight away. It’s grown massively since I’ve taken it over

The deli at Nearby Lambscross is full of

appetising options

and the Nearby Retail team has really helped me get the store to this level. The pandemic has brought in new customers who wanted to shop local and avoid larger supermarkets with crowds. Our store looks small from the outside

but we have a good sized deli, a full bakery and a good selection of wines. Many locals say they couldn’t believe the range we had within the space,” he says.

Malone’s Bakery in-store is very impressive with a great range of breads, scones, cakes and cupcakes all made in their on-site production room. “It’s a bit like Superquinn’s traditional bakery making fresh bread, scones and all that type of stuff on a smaller scale,” he explains. “We held on to the growth we had with Covid. Even though things have gone back to normal mostly, we’re actually still up on last year and the year previous to that. We’ve held it well. People stayed local and saw what we had. Wine sales did very well too,” he says.

Other areas of the shop that perform well are his Costa Coffee machine and he has a fuel yard behind the store with blocks, coal and briquettes.

S&W Wholesale

When Malone took over this shop it was trading with another group. After a year he changed to S&W Wholesale with Today’s Express and subsequently to the new Nearby brand. He details why he finds S&W so different to other groups and why it works so well for him. “S&W is very efficient and the prices are very good. The Nearby Retail team have been very supportive from the very beginning and I can’t fault them,” he says.

“There’s no franchise fee so straightaway I’ve saved money and I’m getting a better service than what I had with my last group. It suits me perfectly as I like to do my own thing. They’ve good prices and have very little out of stocks. It’s perfect for someone like me with so much experience in retail.

“Retailers I know who are with other groups are ringing me complaining about the amount of out of stocks they have yet we haven’t had much experience with this with S&W Wholesale,” he says.

He says he likes the fresh look and feel of the brand and feels like S&W is absolutely the best fit for his business.

Staff

There are 16 staff to man this busy shop that is open each day from 6.30am until 10.30pm. They have even opened on Christmas Day for the past five years and have created a lovely tradition of cooking turkeys and hams for some of their elderly customers and delivering them to their doors. “I work on Christmas Day myself with my son and my nephew and it’s good fun. We cook people’s turkeys and hams and deliver them to some of our older customers. We go home around 2pm and enjoy our own day then,” he says.

Interestingly Malone has had no issue with retaining staff. An industry-wide problem at present is a lack of staff so he counts himself lucky that he has not had to contend with this. He says he treats his staff with respect and gives them responsibility. “We have no problem getting staff and we’ve had the same staff since we opened. Other retailers seem to constantly be looking for staff but I’ve never had an issue with that. If you give people a bit of responsibility and look after them, they are usually happy,” he says.

Well used to early starts and hard work, Malone starts work at 5.30am each morning. He says he enjoys what he does so he doesn’t mind doing it.

“I take Sundays off now and I have for the last while but during lockdown it was seven days. We were flat out and finding it difficult to keep up with it. At the moment we are on an upward curve and we are trading 40% up on last year,” he explains.

The only issue Malone has encountered in recent times is dealing with anti-maskers as Malone’s priority is his customers and keeping them safe while they browse and shop around his store. He hopes that this issue will disappear in time along with Covid but it sounds like the customers he gained during Covid are around for the long haul.

Doing the basics right like his impressive bakery and deli has proved a winning formula for this shop and Malone can look forward to welcoming even more customers in the near future as the new developments are completed. Keeping up with demand might be his biggest problem yet! ■

Featuring smart wooden shelving, the in-store

off-licence carries a wide selection of choices

for customers looking for something a little

different