SuperValu Lucan was a very deserving winner of the accolade for ‘Ireland’s Best Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Offering’ at the recent National Grocery Retail Awards in the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Dublin.
Also runner-up in the category for ‘Ireland’s Best Fresh Dairy Offering’, SuperValu Lucan prides itself on its fresh food, exceptional customer service and commitment to local jobs. 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. The 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.
“We were both surprised and delighted to win the award,” says James Lai, who manages SuperValu Lucan’s fruit and veg department.
“It’s a great achievement and is all down to our fresh quality produce and amazing fruit and veg team which also includes Ansar Muhammad, Cristinel Roca, Dilen Nakarmi, Kibanou Halaoui, Shane Nolan and Zidrone Mikelionyte. We have three people working night shifts who ensure that everything is fully packed and ready to go first thing in the morning.
“Quality and date checks are also carried out every morning to make sure our products are 100% right before we serve them to our customers.”
Originally from Hong Kong, James and SuperValu Lucan store manager Ger Joyce were delighted to receive the coveted award on behalf of their colleagues. Store assistant manager Simon Crabb has nothing but praise for James and his award-winning team.
“Out of all the stores I’ve worked in down through the years, James’ passion, attention to detail and flair stand out. His enthusiasm and presentation are second to none,” Simon explains.
“James is very humble and this success doesn’t come as any great surprise. He and his team always go the extra mile to ensure customer expectations are not only met, but exceeded. Our fruit and veg department operates efficiently and effectively at all times to provide our customers with excellent quality products and service.
“All of our fruit and veg team have taken part in our produce champion training programme where they spent time with our suppliers to get a feel for the products and the process of getting them from the field and through the packing stage.”
Employing 206 people, SuperValu Lucan is the anchor tenant of Lucan Shopping Centre and the flagship store of MOPI (Musgrave Operating Partners Ireland), which is a division of Musgrave Group with 21 stores across Ireland. MOPI was formerly known as Superquinn and has a rich heritage of fresh food and quality customer service. Superquinn became part of the Musgrave Group in October 2011 and the Superquinn stores changed their name to SuperValu in February 2014. The acquisition created an unrivalled national Irish brand, enabling more shoppers to access SuperValu’s offer, while incorporating the best of Superquinn.
The 21 MOPI stores are located in Limerick, Waterford (Tramore Road), Swords Pavilions, Sundrive, Heuston South Quarter (Kilmainham), Tyrrelstown, Bray, Rathgar, Walkinstown, Blackrock, Ballinteer, Rathborne, Sutton, Ranelagh, Charlesland (Greystones), Portlaoise, Knocklyon, Northside Shopping Centre, Blanchardstown, Finglas and Lucan.
Lucan SuperValu’s mission is to provide customers with the best quality and prices as well as a friendly and enjoyable shopping experience. All of its fresh meat, fruit and vegetables are locally sourced and can be traced back to the farm where they were produced. Unlike many other big supermarket chains which operate in this country, SuperValu is Irish-owned and enjoys a wonderful relationship with its customers.
Lucan SuperValu is a bright, spacious and well laid-out store which is easy to shop in and places a strong emphasis on fresh foods. The store offers a full range of scratch bakery (which supplies fresh bakery products to some of the other MOPI shops), hot deli, meat, fresh and veg, dairy and groceries. The West Dublin outlet also has a large selection of specialty foods and stocks a wide variety of wines and beers in its off-licence from local, national and international producers. Furthermore, the store combines the best of SuperValu’s own grocery brands with the leading brands.
“The key is to get people in the door, especially coming up to Christmas when they come in for the offers, and end up doing their shopping here. There is a lot of competition out there, especially in a large suburb of Dublin like Lucan, but if you give customers what they want, they will invariably come back,” Simon points out.
Online shopping and ‘click and collect’ have become a key part of the operation since the Covid-19 pandemic. SuperValu Lucan has a fleet of vans providing home deliveries seven days a week throughout the locality.
“Our home delivery service became essential during the pandemic. It has grown from there,” the affable assistant manager adds.
SuperValu Lucan has a strong reputation for being customer and community-focused. A huge amount of time and effort is put into working with local suppliers to offer customers high-quality, local produce at good value. It is also a longstanding supporter of the local community, sponsoring sports teams, charities and Lucan Tidy Towns, which retained its Bronze Medal Award in the 2024 SuperValu-sponsored National Tidy Towns competition. The hard-working Tidy Towns committee were delighted to increase their score by 11 marks to 365, which was just one short of a Silver Medal. In addition, SuperValu Lucan is an autism-friendly store.
As SuperValu Lucan continues to go from strength to strength, the store would like to take this opportunity to thank their customers and suppliers – including BOMFRUiT – for their continued support as well as their staff for their hard work, dedication and expertise.
SuperValu Lucan
Lucan Shopping Centre,
Newcastle Road,
Easker South,
Lucan,
Co. Dublin.
Telephone: 01 624 0277
First published in Grocery & Retail Ireland magazine Vol 4 No 1, Spring 2025
