In May, SuperValu Thomastown’s Michelle McGrath was awarded the Mid-Size Supermarket Manager of the Year at the 2024 Grocery Management Awards. Grocery & Retail Ireland caught up with the Kilkenny store’s manager to hear all about the award success and what it is that separates SuperValu Thomastown from the competition.
Business is good these days at SuperValu Thomastown and the plan for Michelle McGrath and the team based along the Dublin Rd, Cloghabrody, Co Kilkenny is to try and keep things that way for the foreseeable future.
Currently operating with 43 staff, the store is open Monday to Saturday from 7.30am to 10pm, Sundays 9.00am to 9.00pm and is well established within the town and also the local community.
In fact, it has been giving back to the town of Thomastown for some time now, whether it be through the sponsorship of local clubs, donations or helping out societies.
Grocery & Retail Ireland touched base with Michelle McGrath recently to learn more about this thriving business and her own background before she came to become the store’s manager.
“The store here would’ve be known as the “VG” (Supermarket) and transitioned into SuperValu and has been in three different locations over the years,” she outlined.
“I started here in Thomastown in August 2018 and I assumed the role of Store Manager in early 2020. My first retail job was when I was 16. It was a summer job in a local grocery store in Clonea Beach in Dungarvan, Co Waterford that had a takeaway to the back of it.
“During my time there, I was opening and closing as well as doing the general every day run of the mill stuff for a store. I didn’t do anything again then until I finished school in 1995 after I did my Leaving Cert, and I started with the L&N in Dungarvan. I saw the transition then from L&N to SuperValu as Musgraves were after taking over.
“I moved to Carlow in 1997 and assumed a role there as a cashier in the local SuperValu. Jim Doyle would’ve been the owner at the time and I worked with him for nine years. During that time I was promoted into the management team and completed a Diploma in Retail Management. The store was sold on to Barry Arthurs in around 2006 where I continued working for a while.
“Shortly after I felt it was time to explore the other branch of the business namely the Centra brand, as I wanted to extend my knowledge of retail and get experience in the convenience side. I worked within the Centra brand for two years with PJ Hickson before returning to work for Barry after he opened a Centra store.
“I moved back then to the SuperValu brand, so I’m a bit of an all-rounder as they say. I’m 27 years at it now.”
Business at the moment is thriving for the store in Thomastown and some excellent news kicked off its summer when Michelle was named ‘Store Manager of the Year’ at the annual Grocery Management Awards.
While it was an honour for herself, she puts the success down to a team effort from her fellow employees at SuperValu Thomastown where the customer service is renowned as being excellent.
So far, 2024 has been a fantastic year business-wise and Michelle hopes to see more of the same in the coming months, as she continues to lead an excellent team in the town set in beautiful surroundings of the Nore Valley.
“It has been absolutely brilliant. Since moving to Thomastown to work with Musgrave Group my development has gone through the roof,” she stated.
“I’m far more confident in my role as a manager and what’s expected of me, whereas before you wouldn’t really get to see a lot of the other side of the business in terms of KPIs and top end financials.
“Musgraves do work very hard to help you progress. I did win the Store Manager of the Year two years ago, so to be even nominated for this one at Grocery Management Awards I was very humbled and taken back. I never would’ve thought in a million years that I would’ve won it because you are up against really, really great retailers.
“It’s been great for the store and, to be honest, I couldn’t do any of this without the staff with me. We all work hard together and, even during Covid, they’ve came together so much that it was just amazing. All of the great work and achievements here is down to the staff – I can’t take any credit for it.”
2017 saw “a mini-revamp”, as Michelle calls it, carried out on the store, while last year there was an extension carried out to its Off Licence along with some new doors put on its refrigerators.
Plans are in place for more works to be carried out over the next few years and, with regards to personnel, SuperValu Thomastown has saw numerous internal promotions over the last 12 months.
“Our most recent in the last year would be our Deli Head of Department, a Trainee Manager and then this year we had a Bakery Head of Department, a Produce Head of Department and a Dairy Head of Department. We’re getting there,” stated the Store Manager.
So, all of that considered, the burning question what has been the secret behind the success of this particular store to date?
What is it about SuperValu Thomastown that sets it apart and has its customers choosing it first ahead of the competition?
“To be honest, I think it’s because we are local and well established in this town over 50 years. It’s also down to the fact that we’re actively involved in the community,” Michelle pointed out.
“We do a lot of sponsorship, a lot of donations and help out with many societies. We even have a good relationship with the secondary school and take in all of their transition students for work experience every year.
“We work closely with the GAA club here, the soccer club and have a very strong affiliation with the Kilkenny Helping the Homeless and the St Vincent de Paul as well.”
Fantastic to hear.
SuperValu Thomastown
Dublin Rd,
Cloghabrody,
Thomastown,
Co Kilkenny (R95 P6CP)
Tel: (056) 772 4175
First published in Grocery & Retail Ireland magazine Vol 3 No 3, Winter 2024
