A holy different experience

SuperValu, Churchtown, Dublin 14

SuperValu Churchtown is flying the flag for high shop standards, after unfurling a well thought-out renovation in recent months.

People

18 November 2010

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Impressive is the simplest word to describe the appearance of SuperValu Churchtown; with its entirely glass façade leading into a spotless high specification store of some 14,500 sq ft.

Store manager Sean Doherty says in a modest fashion that the store’s refurbishment which expanded the shop from 8, 500 sq ft to 14,500 sq ft, has resulted in bigger aisles, creating “a more comfortable shop” for customers. The store was previously over-trading for its size and hadn’t received a full refurbishment in around 10 years, so he and the team felt the time was right to make a significant re-investment in the store.

Investing in store standards

The refurbishment started on 3 October last year and finished in September this year, so took nearly a year to complete. As Doherty says: “We were working on it for a long time but it has paid off.” The current financial climate also delivered a silver lining in this particular case. “We started planning it in 2007…and it took a while to get everything sorted but it ended up being great because now costs have come down a lot so we would have saved money.”

A number of companies took part in the process, including Anglo-Irish Refrigeration Co. Ltd who installed the store’s refrigeration and Storefit who were responsible for shop equipment. “Overall, we were very pleased with how it went,” says Doherty. This is fortuitous, as while all retailers need to stand out from their competition, this need was especially imperative for SuperValu Churchtown, given the high volume of competitors situated in the nearby vicinity.

Stiff competition

While Doherty describes Churchtown as a “good location,” in the centre of a dense residential hub, he nevertheless highlights that the store is also surrounded by no less than three Tescos. “In the last three or four years, we’ve had the new Dundrum Shopping Centre open, and we’ve seen two or three Lidls open and an Aldi open in the area, so there’s always competition arriving. There’s also a Superquinn going to open in Rathgar now, planned for before Christmas.”

With such a large volume of discounters and supermarkets competing for a slice of the same business, SuperValu Churchtown has to ensure customers remember its offering for all the right reasons. “We have good customer service, free parking, a good range of products, and very friendly staff. Most of our staff have been here for years,” says Doherty.
Training is also a priority for the store, yet due to low staff turnover, this tends to focus more on refreshment courses for existing staff, rather than training new recruits.

Loyal staff

In fact several staff have been with the store since it opened as a SuperValu in February 1987; before this it traded as an H Williams outlet and closed down for some nine months before re-opening in its new incarnation. “Our staff are all excellent. The store’s been open for 23 years now and there’s a few staff who have been here that long and generally they’ve all been here around 10 years,” adds Doherty.

Dealing with customers on the shopfloor is the part of his job he himself most enjoys also. “When it’s busy, there’s always a good buzz around, especially around Christmas. The customers are very nice; we have a good bit of banter.”

The retailer, who is originally from Collins Avenue, Whitehall, in north Dublin, began working at SuperValu Churchtown at a young age. Explaining how he first dipped his toe into the retail sector, he says: “I started packing bags at 13 here, and then after my Leaving Cert, I went to the Dublin Institute of Technology at Mountjoy Square for a couple of years at nights and worked in SuperValu Balally and then I started here as a trainee manager, then assistant manager and manager and became company director three or four years ago.”

Excelling expectations

In terms of offering a good range of products moreover, it is clear that the supermarket aims to distinguish itself by excelling on customers’ expectations. Delivering on the ‘personal touch’ is clearly another key aspect of the store. Signs ranged throughout various categories, which show individual photographs of staff and their signatures, tell customers messages such as: “We’re passionate about our fruit and veg to bring you the best quality everyday, Stephen.”

In keeping with the Musgrave Group’s emphasis on supporting local suppliers, a range of Irish baked goods including Gran Clarke’s Irish Tea Brack, Matt Reilly Cakes and Youngs of Kells products, are prominently displayed within the bakery category. As is a photograph of bakers from nearby Portobello based enterprise, The Bretzel Bakery, complete with the caption: “We start baking early every morning when most people are asleep to bring you the freshest bread in Dublin.” SuperValu Churchtown stocks a strong range of Bretzel Bakery products including granary and sourdough loaves.

Local heroes

The locally-supplied message is likewise emphasised throughout the rest of the store with signs such as “Quality Irish Meat from Matt Brogan’s farm at Stepaside”; “The freshest fish. Landed at Howth everyday”; and “Fresh deli. From local suppliers right across Leinster.” For less traditional tastes, a Sushi King offer is likewise available at the deli section.
Another important message emphasised in-store is SuperValu’s environmental credentials, with a notice on one of the fridges stating they are “helping to reduce our carbon footprint by consuming less energy,” as part of SuperValu’s “ongoing commitment to the environment.” Digital information screens are also located throughout the store, linked to RTE.ie entertainment, while the chain’s Real Rewards loyalty programme is also highlighted.

Delivering variety

What’s more, an extensive choice of gluten free and wheat free products are also available within their own dedicated section, ranging from Barkat ice cream waffle cones to Doves Farm Organic Pasta and Hale and Hearty pancake and cake mixes. Variety is also certainly not lacking within the off-licence, which has specific sections for wines from France, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Chile & Argentina, New Zealand and Australia, as well as a broad world beers selection.

A further advantage created by the store’s larger size is that it now has a greater opportunity to highlight in-store the offers that are available and create a better price perception in people’s minds.

“We can highlight offers better now, because we have more space, and can give more ends to offers and promotions,” says Doherty. “We used to only have three ends and now we’ve increased and have more chilled ends and coffin fridges as well; so from a consumer’s point of view their price perception of the store will definitely have improved an awful lot.”

Deli area

Niche appeal

While strong pricing and promotional offers appeal to the mass market, SuperValu Churchtown also caters for a more unusual niche in Ireland. The supermarket sells Kosher food for Dublin’s Jewish population; largely situated in and around the local areas of Terenure, Rathfarnham, Rathgar and Churchtown.

Doherty explains: “There’s a synagogue based in Terenure, and 10 years ago they had a Kosher shop but it closed down, so for the last 10 years we’ve been providing all their foods. There was a couple of thousand here at one stage, but now there’s 500 or 600.” The store sources all its Kosher foods in Manchester, which has a Jewish population of some 30,000 people.

Bakery

Forward thinking

Looking towards the future, Doherty says the store’s ambitions are, “just to keep on trucking really; to try to grow sales obviously, and try to keep the profit margins up and basically try and pay for the refit. We are trying to get back as much money as possible, but at the same time you do have to keep the store standards up high.”

The supermarket is also thinking of adding a household range, which should prove a popular addition. Doherty also notes that while a few SuperValu stores are currently trialling internet shopping this is a new business avenue SuperValu Churchtown will commence in quarter two of next year. All in all, it appears this is a store with the right outlook – in terms of both appearance and mindset – to succeed.

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