Broderick’s Spar Croom were once more amongst the major winners at the 2025 National Grocery Retail Awards, triumphing in the prestigious ‘Retail Store of the Year – Small Supermarket’ category for an astonishing third successive year. Grocery & Retail Ireland touched base with delighted store owner Padraig Broderick to gauge his reaction to the great news.
Showcasing and celebrating the best of the best in Ireland’s retail sector, the 2025 National Grocery Retail Awards were staged at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel in Dublin on Tuesday afternoon, October 21st.
No stranger to success at the industry’s premier awards celebration, Broderick’s of Croom proprietor Padraig Broderick was humbled, honoured and pleasantly surprised to take the ‘Retail Store of the Year – Small Supermarket’ back to his trailblazing south Limerick place of business for the third year running:
“It’s always nice to win any award and this one is special. I must say I was really surprised to get it again, for the third year in a row. The standard out there is very high and there are more and more new stores going in for these awards every year, so we weren’t expecting to win again. As a rural store serving a relatively small population, it’s very reassuring to be in the running for these awards, never mind winning them.
“Last year, we also won ‘Ireland’s Best Food To Go Offering’, so it hasn’t been a bad three years for us at the National Grocery Retail Awards and that’s all down to our brilliant team and wonderful, loyal customers.”
Since taking ownership of the store in 2003, Castleisland, Co. Kerry native Padraig has really brought Broderick’s of Croom to the next level, developing it into a magnificent fresh food destination, with a fantastic selection of fresh foods, including a delectable range of freshly-made pre-packed oven-ready meals bearing the ‘Broderick’s of Croom’ brand.
“We pride ourselves on our fresh food offering – and that’s probably the main reason why we have won so many awards down through the years. Croom is a rural town in County Limerick with a small population of approximately 1,250 and a healthy hinterland. This store has been here on the main street for over 40 years and I’ve been here for the past 22 of those.
“It’s over the past ten years really that we have targeted the fresh food market and gone about the process of transforming Broderick’s of Croom into a fresh good destination. Obviously, that can take time and we had to be patient, but the team here have been working hard and upskilling along the way and these awards are an acknowledgement that we are achieving what we set out to achieve.”
The progressive multi-award-winning Spar store on Croom’s Main Street underwent a major revamp four years ago, with the acquisition of the old Ulster Bank building next door bringing its generous floor space up to an impressive 6,725 sq ft, with high ceilings and wide aisles adding to the sense of modernity, freshness and all-round positive shopper experience.
Broderick’s Spar Croom incorporates the local post office, while Padraig also added a craft bakery, revamped and expanded the deli to include more fresh offerings and enhanced the vast range at the meat counter to offer more oven-ready products – a process which has continued unabated:
“People here love food and our staff love serving them convenient, fresh, tasty and nutritious food,” he enthuses. “We’ve developed the very popular Broderick’s of Croom brand which already incorporates 350 fresh lines – 200 lines in our oven-ready range and a further 150 across the bakery, jams, marmalades, etc.
“The Broderick’s of Croom range represents a huge milestone for us and has certainly been a factor in us winning the National Grocery Retail Award again. The meat counter and fresh food offerings are the backbone of the business and we’ve developed a very large range of readymade meals and fresh and prepacked foods, with a lot of in-store refrigeration to accommodate it all.”
It’s onwards and upwards for Broderick’s of Croom, who will be expanding even further in the not too distant future so as to provide an even better level of service, choice and value to customers… “The shop is currently comprised of four buildings on the main street, amalgamated, which lends it a lot of structural character,” continues Padraig, who has put great thought and imagination into the store design and lay-out.
“When you walk in the front door, the first aisle you encounter is the widest one and you know immediately you are in Broderick’s of Croom. That first aisle is personalised and unique, packed with our own branded products. Then, when you turn the corner, you know you are in a supermarket. We’ve put our own stamp on it.
“We’re now in the process of securing planning permission to add a fifth building to the store, which will add an additional 2,500 sq ft. That will hopefully be completed by the middle of 2026, at which stage we will have outgrown the Spar brand and will take on the Eurospar brand instead to complement what we are already doing. It’ll be a smooth transition and that’s the next step for us.
“I’ve invested a lot of money into my vision of having wide aisles in the store and I’m utterly obsessed with always having them clutter-free. The store is completely uncluttered and clinical and that really helps the fresh food on display to stand out.”
Fresh food really has moved to front and centre – literally! – of everything Broderick’s of Croom is all about and this will remain the primary focal point going forward. “We’re known for fresh food. People’s lifestyles have changed and we have developed a product offering to cater for that,” says Padraig.
“Parking is very tight around the store and that’s one of the reasons we needed to offer something special and something unique. The lack of parking nearby has been a big factor in me having to take the store to the next level, with a flair for fresh food and uniqueness. For a lot of people, this justifies them coming into the store even if they didn’t get parked outside.”
None of this could have been possible without the support and hard work of Broderick’s of Croom’s loyal 46-strong team: “Our aim was to be the best store of our size in Ireland and they embraced that challenge and made it happen. They have played a huge part in the success of the business. To develop and create such a busy and successful store here in Croom is a success story in many ways and I owe all of that to my team, led by store manager Michael Mackessy, who has been here for 34 years and counting, and assistant store manager Callum Nihill.
“Up to 20 of the team have been here for 20+ years, so they are bringing invaluable experience and loyalty, which you can’t put a price on these days. They are challenged here every day and they enjoy it.”
It’s quite easy to see why the judges at the 2025 National Grocery Retail Awards felt like they had no other option but to name Broderick’s of Croom as ‘Retail Store of the Year – Small Supermarket’ for the third consecutive time. “It’s absolutely amazing to have collected that award three years in a row,” Padraig concludes. “We have that plaque on the wall already, alongside the others, and we have to make sure we live up to it.”
Broderick’s of Croom,
Main Street,
Croom,
County Limerick.
Telephone: 061 397740
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BrodericksSparCroom
First published in Grocery & Retail Ireland magazine Vol 5 No 1, Spring 2026
Broderick’s of Croom, featured
