As both of Cosgrove’s fantastic Centra stores – located in Mountain Top, Letterkenny, County Donegal and Maugheraboy, County Sligo – were celebrated at the 2025 National Grocery Retail Awards, Grocery & Retail Ireland touched base with a delighted family business director Matthew Cosgrove.
Recognising and celebrating the very best of the best in the Irish retail sector, the 2025 National Grocery Retail Awards ceremony took place at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Dublin, on Tuesday October 21st. An industry-leading independent family business that currently comprises one Super Valu outlet (in Bundoran, County Donegal) and two Centra stores, Cosgrove’s Retail Group was a major winner on the day.
The newest addition to the chain, Cosgrove’s Centra Mountain Top, Letterkenny was a worthy winner of the coveted ‘Excellence in Fresh Food Retailing in a Small Supermarket’ award, while the original flagship store Cosgrove’s Centra Maugheraboy, Sligo made the Top Three in ‘Retail Store of the Year – Small Supermarket’.
Matthew Cosgrove, who has been fronting the second-generation family business since earlier this year, was thrilled to see both Cosgrove’s Centras feted in such illustrious company: “It was absolutely brilliant to receive this recognition from the industry,” he told Grocery & Retail Ireland.
“Having recently returned to the business myself, one of the things I was keen to do was to start to measure ourselves against the best of the best. When you look at the list of winners at these awards, and you see that you are in the company of the Garveys and Scallys of this world, then you know that you must be doing something right. So that’s extremely encouraging.
“It basically reaffirms that we are performing at the level we need to be performing at, that we are achieving what we set out to do and that the great work of our team across our stores on a day to day basis is being noticed. Obviously, the team on the ground in our stores are the real winners of these awards. They are the ones who look after our loyal customers and make it all happen.”
Foodservice and the preparation of convenient fresh food has moved to the centre of what a modern supermarket is all about, so taking the much-sought-after ‘Excellence in Fresh Food Retailing in a Small Supermarket’ award back to Donegal must have been particularly gratifying?
“Absolutely, we have our own production bakery in the Super Valu store in Bundoran and fresh baking is a huge focus in the Cosgrove Group. Both of our Centra stores were also in the running for Centra’s Bakery of the Year in Dublin in the first week of November, with Cosgrove’s Centra Maugheraboy winning the national title, which was another massive accomplishment.
“Fresh food is a major focus and is also the area where we have seen the biggest growth. When it comes to fresh food, we are making sure our benchmarks are in line with all other stores in the country. We are fully focused on offering our customers the best choice of fresh, quality food at the right price across all three stores, and it’s really paying off.”
Matthew’s parents Des – who previously worked for Musgraves for nine years and ran a Centra store in Cork – and Martha Cosgrove opened the first of the three stores currently comprising Cosgrove’s Retail Group in Maugheraboy 21 year ago and took over Super Valu in Bundoran four years later. Since July, 2024, they have been at the helm of Centra in Mountain Top.
Cosgroves have put their own touch on what was already a popular store and have really hit the ground running at Mountain Top, with sales up 14 per cent in the first year.
“The store in Letterkenny was already operating at a very high level,” says Matthew. “We made some changes by introducing elements from our other Centra and married the two together to create a winning combination. So it’s a healthy mix of the store already being at the heart of the local community and adding synergies from our other two stores to take it to the next level.”
In total, between the three stores and including the production bakery in Bundoran, Cosgroves generate direct employment for a wonderful in-house team of 170, with Matthew now overseeing day-to-day operations and Des having taken a backseat role but still leveraging his vast knowledge of the retail sector to offer invaluable advice.
“The business is moving upwards and from a personal perspective, it’s a very privileged position to come back into,” notes Matthew. “Mum and Dad have built up a great business and we are in a strong position to move forward and experience further growth, possibly with the addition of more stores to the Group.”
All three stores are excelling in terms of delivering the best-possible customer service, with choice and value always to the fore: “We recently attended a regional meeting with Musgraves and were greatly reassured to hear that what we are doing is fully in line with what they are looking to do in their stores.
“Customer service is the thing we are most focused on – making sure every customer who comes through our doors has a pleasant shopping experience. Value for money is going to be a very big thing in 2026 and is something we’ll be addressing to make sure we give our customers the best value possible.”
The local, community element is also very important to Cosgrove’s Retail Group and they are immensely proud of their three stores’ status at the very heart of the communities they serve. “We genuinely like to help people out with support and sponsorship any way we can, to do the right thing. If you put people first, then you are going to be accepted as a respected member of the local community,” Matthew concludes.
Cosgrove’s Centra,
Mountaintop,
Letterkenny,
County Donegal.
Tel: 074 9122026
First published in Grocery & Retail Ireland magazine Vol 5 No 1, Spring 2026
