Casey’s Londis Castlebar has once again been recognised as one of Ireland’s premier fresh food retailers by winning a National Grocery Retail Award for Excellence in Fresh Food Retailing in the Forecourt Store category for the second successive year.
The multi award-winning store received the accolade at the 2024 awards ceremony at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Dublin on Thursday, October 10 last. The National Grocery Retail Awards highlight best-in-class performance in retailing and honour those who help Ireland’s pioneering stores and retail outlets achieve levels of service and product excellence that set them apart from their competitors.
Casey’s Londis Castlebar stood apart with the Award for Excellence in Fresh Food Retailing, while it was also shortlisted in Ireland’s Best Food-to-Good Offering category.
Paying tribute to Casey’s Londis, Londis Sales Director Conor Hayes offered his ‘wholehearted congratulations to Gerry Casey (owner) and David Tarrant (managing director), and all the team in Casey’s Londis Castlebar’.
“To win this award for a second successive year is a wonderful achievement and reflective of the hard work put in by all in Casey’s Londis. They are great champions for the Londis brand,” he added.
The National Grocery Retail Awards are one of the most eagerly-anticipated events in the Irish grocery retail calendar, and those honoured are recognised as being true industry standard-bearers.
Part of the Casey Retail Group, Casey’s Londis Castlebar has won numerous accolades in recent years, including the C-Store Best Food to Go Department 2017, C-Store Best Fresh & Chilled Retailer 2019, Forecourt & Convenience Retailer Best Food to Go 2019, C-Store Forecourt Retailer of the Year (Bronze) 2021, National Grocery Management Forecourt Delicatessen / Food to Go Manager of the Year 2022, National Grocery Management Retail Team of the Year for 2023 and now back-to-back National Grocery Retail Excellence Awards for Fresh Food Retailing.
“The company’s motto is ‘sharing our love for food’, so this award means a lot to us,” says Casey’s Londis Castlebar store manager Colin Cronin.
“It’s all down to our amazing team who are always striving for the highest standards in food. As food retailers first and foremost, we are passionate about fresh food and that is instilled in everyone who works here. When we’re recruiting new staff, we always look for ‘foodie’ people. They must have a passion for food.
“Our success can also be attributed to teamwork, attention to detail, good communication skills, hygiene and customer service among other things. We go to great lengths to ensure our customers have the best possible shopping experience.”
The Casey Retail Group was founded by Gerry Casey in 1998 with the opening of the Castlebar store under the Centra brand. Due to its success, further stores were opened in Ballina, Dock Road, Limerick, Galway, Newbridge and Ennis Road, Limerick, which is the latest addition. The Casey Retail Group employs 260 people in total, including 50 at its original store in Castlebar.
In 2017, the Group became part of the 100% Irish-owned Londis symbol group, with the business experiencing one of its most positive transformations to date. Its new store design model has not only given all stores a welcome new look and feel, but the innovative layout has improved the shopper experience. The stores are spacious, bright, well laid out and easy to shop in, with a strong emphasis on fresh foods.
One of the Group’s most notable innovations has been the development of The Kitchen at Casey’s. This is a new food service concept that provides an even better range of wholesome hot foods, salads and sandwiches which are all prepared and cooked in-store.
Changing to the Londis brand has enabled Casey’s to bring additional quality Irish franchises like Chopped and Bewleys to their customers to complement their own wholesome in-store offering. The recently revamped 5,000 sq. ft. Castlebar store boasts a Circle K filling station, Chopped, Deli, Carvery, Four Star Pizza, Bewleys, Off-licence, ATM, customer toilets as well as seating for 60 people indoors and 40 people outdoors.
The Castlebar forecourt alone sells approximately 3,000 dinner solutions a week across The Kitchen at Casey’s, Chopped and Four Star Pizza brands. This doesn’t include sides, meal deals, sandwiches or rolls. All meals are freshly made by experienced chefs, while the scratch bakery also makes fresh bread daily.
As foodservice operators, Casey’s deliver a vast and varied range of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and food to go options under one roof, appealing to all ages and to all different tastes from 6am to 12 midnight on weekdays (Saturday and Sunday opening hours are 7am to 12 midnight). Through their energetic, passionate people and market-leading brands, they aim to exceed their customers’ expectations with friendly, professional customer service.
The Casey Retail Group prides itself on strong commercial partnerships with BWG Foods, Aryzta Foods, Chopped, Four Star Pizza, Bewleys and Supermacs who share its vision and work closely with the business on all aspects of achieving a shared goal. The Ballina and Limerick stores are home to the ever-popular Supermacs franchise.
As proud supporters of local produce and community groups, Casey’s Londis Castlebar sponsors local GAA, cycling, tennis and rugby clubs as well as LauraLynn, Candlelight and the Tidy Towns.
“It’s our way of giving something back,” adds Colin, who has been store manager since last April.
As Casey’s Londis Castlebar continues to go from strength to strength, the store would like to take this opportunity to thank their customers and suppliers for their continued support as well as their staff for their hard work, dedication and expertise.
Casey’s Londis Castlebar
Knockcroghery,
Castlebar,
Co. Mayo.
Telephone: 094 902 5844
Email: [email protected]
First published in Grocery & Retail Ireland magazine Vol 4 No 1, Spring 2025
