Henderson Retail opens N.Ireland’s first Spar UK Fresh concept store

Henderson Retail has opened their first ever supermarket to be designed and built with a data driven approach, a concept they’ve been working on with Spar International and Spar UK to deliver exclusively in Northern Ireland.

The £3.7 million Eurospar in Doagh is the first of the new ‘Fresh’ concept stores to open in Northern Ireland, offering a fresh food shopping experience customised for the Doagh community. The 7,500 sq. ft. store, which employs 35 people, is the only supermarket in the village.

“This community supermarket has been designed and built with a data driven approach in order to provide a mission focused customer proposition tailored for local shoppers,” Mark McCammond, retail director at Henderson Group explained.

“It is the first outlet of its kind to open in Northern Ireland, following our new ‘Fresh’ stores initiative, adapted for that community’s particular demands and needs, encouraging increased visits for a great fresh food shopping trip close to home.”

The team has worked with marketing, tech and analyst specialists to identify several criteria to determine a store’s primary shopping mission. The most important shopper mission for this type of Eurospar is the fresh produce top-up shop with products conducive to making a meal, therefore a greater proportion of space and variety of range to fresh produce and fresh meat will be dedicated in-store.

Eurospar Doagh will provide an array of local brands from Newtownabbey’s Asher’s Bakery to Jenkin’s local butchery from Ballyclare, alongside an enhanced offering of Henderson Wholesale’s own brands including The Chef range of pre-prepared meals, Greengrocer’s fruit and vegetables and the popular Spar enjoy local range of meats, poultry, baked goods and every day fresh essentials.

McCammond continued: “This proposition provides an elevated fresh food offering and meal solutions for tonight’s tea, catering to local demands. This is an innovative approach which Henderson Retail has applied to the new store, and has a vibrant fresh look with a choice of products that will create a standout shopping experience.”

The store features tech innovations like the Glory cash management system to provide customers with full service yet touch-less cash payment solutions at the tills, and the option of self-scan checkouts for faster and contactless checkout experiences.

Store Manager Daniel Duncan said the facilities and services Eurospar Doagh will bring to the community are second to none.

“We are bringing a supermarket experience to the local community, which includes a 32-space car park, customer toilet facilities, ATM, an on-site WineFlair off-license and a fuel offering from Texaco. Our in-store Post Office will be managed by Eddie Lister, while the fresh food offering will be complemented by Henderson’s dailyDeli hot food counter and Barista Bar coffee, offering a great range of premium coffee including flat whites and hot chocolates,” he said.

“We are already engaging with the local community and sponsoring the Doagh Primary School football team. We have also donated bedding plants to the school and pupils Hayley Crowe and Carter Johnston won our colouring competition and helped us officially declare the store open. Our community engagement also sees us supporting the Mid Antrim Animal Sanctuary, and we’ve provided sanitising stations to the Doagh Village Community Association. We also look forward to supporting Eurospar’s charity partner, Cancer Fund for Children with initiatives throughout the year.

“We’re delighted to be open and bring even more great value offers, services and facilities to the village.”