The well-appointed Londis supermarket in Castlebridge, County Wexford has undergone an extensive transformation and refurbishment which futureproofs its status as the quintessential community convenience store. We headed for the Model County and interrupted store manager Deirdre Carty’s busy schedule to find out more.
Located on the outskirts of Wexford town, Londis Castlebridge officially unveiled its magnificent new look to the public over June Bank Holiday weekend, 2024.
This thriving convenience store, which has undergone a complete top-to-bottom transformation and refurbishment, is managed by Deirdre Carty, who points out that the reimagining and modernisation of the store places them in the strongest possible position to continue providing customers with the best-possible levels of service.
The revamp sees the new-look store almost double in size, to 8,761 square feet, making it one of Ireland’s largest Londis outlets space-wise.
Londis Castlebridge has been furnished to the highest spec with tremendous sustainability measures such as the roof, which is now packed with solar panels to generate power and help offset the store’s carbon footprint. The upgraded store also boasts a whole section of Irish only products and has an extensive grocery offering to satisfy all shoppers’ needs, including a full off-licence, Smooch Ice Cream offering and delicious pizzas (to-go or cooked onsite) as well as freshly baked breads and pastries.
“We are delighted with the new look, feel and flow to Londis Castlebridge. We are very proud to be serving the needs of the local community and the response to the new store has been overwhelmingly positive,” Deirdre comments.
Reflecting on the substantial construction project that culminated in the transformation of Londis Castlebridge, the amiable store manager continues: “The building work was carried out over eight months in 2023. The new store opened in December, 2023 and we had our official launch on June Bank Holiday weekend this year.
“We were very lucky in that the build was carried out over three different phases which allowed us to work around it. The extension was done first and as each phase was taking place, we moved around. The builders facilitated us in any way they could and the store was able to remain open throughout. It went very smoothly with minimal disruption, and that was down to the excellence of the main contractor, GJM Contracts, who handled it brilliantly and did a fantastic job from start to finish.”
A true convenience store in every sense of the term, Londis Castlebridge nestles at the very heart of the community it has served for decades. As well as offering a great retail experience, the store is part of the fabric of the local community.
“People don’t just come in here to shop,” says Deirdre. “They come in for a catch-up and we are very proud of that personal connection we have with all of our customers. We provide them with a friendly and welcoming experience and we have a very good mix of customers, from small kids through to the older generation.
“Looking after them all is key and that’s what we intend to keep doing. The new store provides us with a perfect platform to make sure they all have the best possible customer experience.”
What is key to delivering the optimal customer experience – quality, value, convenience, service? “I think it’s a combination of all of these things. You have to have quality goods but they also have to be at the right price and service is vital. You have to make sure you have a team who all know what’s going on, friendly and knowledgeable staff with good local knowledge and who know the customers.”
Having an exceptional team around her is a great help to the store manager and she says she’d be lost without the brilliant staff at Londis Castlebridge: “We have a great team and it’s a good mix of the young crew coming through and the core team members who are vastly experienced and have been here a long time. Jackie here beside me, for example, has been here 30 years and she is the anchor of the store.”
The revamp of Londis Castlebridge has effectively delivered a brand spanking new store on the site of the old one. “Everything is new now,” Deirdre enthuses. “Apart from a few walls that were reworked, everything else in the store is new – from the floors up to the roof, with solar panels for sustainable energy generation. We have brand-new refrigeration and energy-efficient lighting throughout the store, new deli equipment, there is nothing old left in the store. It’s unrecognisable from what was here before.”
Comprising a fresh store and fuel forecourt, with deli counter, bakery and fresh food on the go, Londis Castlebridge also boast one of the biggest and best off licence offerings of any Londis store, while the dedicated artisan area for local produce sourced from Wexford and other parts of Ireland is one of the many jewels in the crown. Deirdre believes supporting local suppliers is extremely important:
“We have a strong local ethos and support local suppliers as much as we possibly can. At the end of the day, we are all local people working in the local area and supporting local businesses is something we strive towards as well as contributing to the local community.”
The feedback to the newly-revamped store has understandably been universally positive. “It’s been great,” Deirdre confirms. “The original store that was here was built 60 years ago and even though there were many changes and improvements over the years, it was old and tired and crumbling at the seams, so it’s a breath of fresh air to see it today. We’re a bridge away from Wexford town and it’s the only store in the area – a supermarket now and the upgrade has been very well received.
“This is it now,” the delighted store manager concludes. “We’re in our first year of trading since the new store was built and we’re very happy with it at the minute. We’ll continue to look at what our customers need, and meet those needs, and put our best foot forward.”
Londis Castlebridge,
Castlebridge,
County Wexford.
Tel: 053 9159958
Email: [email protected]
First published in Grocery & Retail Ireland magazine Vol 3 No 3, Winter 2024
