An integral part of the local community for 57 years and counting, O’Toole’s Supervalu Tuam were very much to the fore at the 2023 National Grocery Retail Awards, where they received national recognition in no fewer than four categories!
Founder Joe O’Toole’s legacy lives on through the exceptional modern, multifaceted grocery retail store that is O’Toole’s Supervalu Tuam, whose consistent excellence across all facets of the business was recognised on the quadruple at the 2023 National Grocery Retail Awards.
Remarkably, this bustling modern supermarket, which has moved ahead of the times for almost six decades, made the top three nationally in four categories at Ireland’s most prestigious awards presentation for the grocery and retail sector: namely Retail Store of the Year Large Supermarket; Ireland’s Best Fresh Fish / Seafood Offering; Ireland’s Best Bakery Offering; and Excellence in Fresh Food Retailing in a Large Supermarket.
It was a hectic day and night for the tireless O’Toole’s SuperValu team, Paula Marques (Store Manager) and Assumpta Meeneghan (Assistant Manager) as they travelled back to the Galway Bay Hotel to support local nun Sr Agnes Curley and Patrcia King at the 2023 Galway People of the Year Awards.
Since its foundation in 1967, O’Toole’s Supervalu Tuam has commanded a place at the centre of everyday life in the local hinterland and the founder’s generosity in sponsoring and helping fund countless local initiatives sets the business apart as something truly unique and exceptional.
Having previously assisted his father and uncle with their travelling shop, the late Joe sowed the seeds for O’Toole’s Super Valu Tuam when he started trading on his own from a small 900 sq ft shop on Bishop Street in 1967. Fourteen years later, Joe and Helen built a new state of the art supermarket on a green field site on Bishop Street. To best serve the needs of customers from North Galway and even beyond, the SuperValu store underwent significant extensions in 1992 and 1998.
Today, the 23,000 sq ft premises stands as a towering, landmark retail premises in the centre of Tuam, encompassing the large SuperValu store, Palace Restaurant and an adjoining department/homeware store, with 140 people employed across all three businesses.
O’Toole’s SuperValu is quite simply an institution in Tuam and it was fitting that they figured so prominently at the National Grocery Retail Awards in November, ’23.
“The store has been completely revamped and modernised in the past twelve months and of course we were delighted to make the shortlist four times at the National Grocery Retail Awards,” states Assistant Manager Assumpta Meeneghan, a long-serving member of the O’Toole’s Supervalu Tuam team
With the latest refurb, the store underwent a complete transformation and is now better placed than ever before to continue providing customers with the best-possible supermarket experience in terms of quality, choice, value, service, convenience and freshness. Assumpta, who oversees the preparation of a vast number of personalised Christmas hampers for the festive season, agrees that it was no coincidence that three of the categories in which O’Toole’s Supervalu Tuam were shortlisted pertain to fresh food preparation and delivery, as this offering is very much central to what the store is all about:
“Fresh food is incredibly important and is a key area for us. We excel in fresh food – from the deli and bakery to the butcher’s counter and fishmonger, fruit & veg, etc. – and this is one of the reasons why customers keep coming back. There are a lot of competitors here now but our loyal customers continue to do business with us and that’s largely down to the fact that we are a local business that offers high-quality fresh produce with exceptional service.
“We are renowned near and far for fresh food and we have deliveries coming into the store from Musgraves and our Local suppliers six days a week, including twice on Saturdays. Everything is geared towards convenience and speed. To this end, for example, we have a self-service bakery in-store.
“We’d have a lot of older clientele in on Fridays and younger people coming in on Saturdays and Sundays, and it’s mixed the rest of the time. Having fresh, tasty food ready for them is huge. There are up to a thousand students between all six schools and we’d have students calling into the store in the mornings, at lunchtime and again in the evenings.”
Meanwhile, O’Toole’s Department Store was revamped in 2016 ahead of the massive 50th anniversary celebrations the following year and was upgraded to a higher spec in 2022. This is part of a continuous policy of modernising and improving at O’Toole’s Supervalu Tuam to ensure that the best possible levels of service and sustainability are achieved on a constant basis.
“We facilitate online delivering service up as far as Clonbur and all local area. In many respects, when you think about it, we’ve almost gone full circle as this service is very like the old travelling shop business.”
Service and personal touch are an inherent part of the overarching ethos at O’Toole’s SuperValu Tuam, which is the very epitome of a business that is at the heart of the local community.
A firm believer in giving back to the community, even after Joe and Helen O’Toole passing their legacy lives on in lots of projects like Joe and Helen O’Toole Community Nursing Unit Tuam, a new stand for Tuam Stadium, refurbishment of the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Tuam, etc. SuperValu is also a major GAA and Tidy Towns sponsor.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today without our loyal customers and wonderful staff. We’re lucky to have a very good team, many of whom have been here over 40 years. You can’t buy that kind of experience and loyalty. When you are nominated for major industry awards, that’s ultimately down to your staff. They are the ones who make sure we are leading the way in customer service.
“There is no Team like O’TOOLE’S TEAM,” states Mary Lardner (CEO).
O’Toole’s Supervalu,
Bishop Street,
Tuam,
County Galway.
Tel: 093 24800
Facebook: www.facebook.com/otoolessupervalu
First published in Grocery & Retail Ireland magazine Vol 2 No 2, Winter 2023/24
