After 30 years with Dunnes Stores, Colin Yeates remains as passionate as ever about the retail business.
Colin joined Dunnes Stores Rathmines as a staff member in August 1996 and now manages the new Point Square store in Dublin 1, which has enjoyed remarkable growth since opening three years ago. It was the fastest-growing Dunnes Stores in Ireland in 2024 and ’25, and this is a testament to the hard work, dedication, expertise and innovative-thinking of Colin and his outstanding team.
The affable Dubliner’s passion for retail and commitment to excellence, coupled with his strong leadership and mentoring skills, saw him shortlisted for the coveted ‘Large Supermarket Manager of the Year’ accolade at last year’s Grocery Management Awards.
Attended by almost 360 guests at the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire, the National Grocery Management Awards is Ireland’s premier scheme for recognising and honouring individual management excellence. To win one is a high point in the career of many of Ireland’s best performing managers from across a variety of categories and at various levels of career progression. The event is also the principal event for managers from across all wholesale brands to gather with colleagues, business partners, suppliers and friends.
“It was nice to be recognised and to have had the opportunity to meet up with my peers. It was good to chat to them about how they do things and to get a few ideas from them,” Colin says.
“In Point Square, our big focus is on employing local people and providing an unrivalled customer and shopping experience. We’ve had the highest sales growth in terms of percentages in the country for the last two years and key to that is having a strong local team. Staff is what makes any store and we’re very lucky to be well served in that regard.”
Opened initially as a convenience store in July 2022, the new, large-scale Dunnes Stores opened in Point Square in December 2023, acting as a major anchor tenant in the redeveloped Point Village Shopping Centre. The 5,500m² site offers a full grocery store with a Baxter’s & Greene Deli, Fishmonger, Sheridan’s Cheesemongers and Dunnes Stores’ own Simply Better range. The store also includes a Café Sol, off-licence, large bakery and greengrocer sections, and self-checkouts, along with fashion and homeware.
The textiles department was added in December 2024 and is managed by Deirdre Arnold. The grocery store employs almost 100 people. Marian Gagea recently joined as assistant manager from Dunnes’ Balbriggan store.
Point Square is an ultra-modern retail village in the heart of Dublin’s Docklands. A number of other well-known retailers have opened there, including Starbucks, Eddie Rockets, Boots, Ruby’s Pizza & Grill, Zambrero, Yogahub, Fame Barbers and Salad Box.
From affluent professionals and apartment dwellers to concert goers, hotel guests, movie goers and cruise passengers, Point Square has more than 115,000 potential customers passing through every day. The area is regarded as an important and vibrant part of the city, with the 3 Arena being one of the big attractions. Attracting annual attendance figures of over 500,000, it is among the top-five busiest concert venues in the world.
“We’re in a great location,” Colin enthuses.
“There is a lot of new office and residential space in the Docklands, so the future looks bright. Over the past three years, we’ve established ourselves as the go-to grocery store for the area. We get a huge trade from locals, builders and office workers. Dublin Port is also close by. In addition, we service North Dublin with online deliveries. It’s the biggest growth area in retail at the moment and Dunnes have focused strongly on it.”
Colin has acquired a wealth of experience and knowledge in retail over the past three decades.
He explains: “I started with Dunnes in Rathmines and stayed there for two years. I then moved to their store in The Square, Tallaght while I was in UCD studying Commerce with a major in HR. I liked the ‘rough and tumble’ of retail, so I started in management in Kilkenny.
“I was there for 12 months and spent eight months in Newbridge after that. I then had spells as assistant manager in the Jetland Shopping Centre and Parkway (both in Limerick) before becoming store manager in Oakville (Clonmel) in 2003. I also managed Thurles for 18 months before returning to Dublin as manager of George’s Street in 2006.
“I had further stints in Ashleaf, Tallaght, CityWest and Blessington before arriving in Point Square in July 2022. The store has come a long way since then and we’re determined to keep it on an upward trajectory. We want to keep giving customers what they want, with a strong emphasis on fresh food.”
Dunnes Stores Point Square is committed to providing customers with the best quality and prices as well as a friendly and enjoyable shopping experience. It also has a large selection of specialty foods and stocks a wide variety of wines and beers in its off-licence from local, national and international producers. Furthermore, the store combines the best of Dunnes Stores’ grocery brands with the leading brands.
In addition, customers can avail of Dunnes Stores’ hugely successful ‘Shop & Save’ scheme where they receive a €5 voucher for their next shop if they spend €25 or a €10 voucher for their next shop if they spend €50 or more.
Dunnes Stores operates over 140 stores in Ireland and Spain, employing over 18,000 people. They are Ireland’s largest and leading retailer, providing a unique offering of food, fashion and homeware. Trading for over 80 years as a family business, Dunnes Stores take pride in continuing to re-imagine, challenge and evolve their ‘Better Value’ promise in response to their customer’s changing needs.
Shopping at Dunnes Stores means better choice and better value in food, fashion and homewares.
Opening hours at Dunnes Stores Point Square are 8.30am to 8pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, 8.30am to 9pm Thursday-Friday and 10am to 8pm on Sundays.
Dunnes Stores Point Square
Point Square Shopping Centre,
East Wall Road,
North Wall,
Dublin 1,
D01 E0K6.
Telephone: 01 887 5300
Web: www.dunnestores.com
First published in Grocery & Retail Ireland magazine Vol 5 No 2, Summer 2026
Dunnes Stores Point Square, featured
