What if Tesco hadn't bought Quinnsworth?

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122951504#Comment_122951504

Correct Dunnes still have a dedicated off licence in Cornelscourt but the full range is also available in the main supermarket. During covid they were using it as a "convenience store" to sell a limited range of groceries so people didn't have to queue.

Not sure why they've kept it used to have two floors until the revamp in 2016/17. Beer was on the ground floor wine on the top floor iirc and it had a wider range than in the supermarket.

blackwhite

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122967618#Comment_122967618

Cornellscourt also has “baby Dunnes” about 500m down the road which has an express concept store as well as a small off-licence.

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122969059#Comment_122969059

Yes I'm very aware of it as I live not far from there. It was formerly the Magic Carpet pub. Thought it was madness when it first opened but seems to be doing very well now.

littlefeet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122969085#Comment_122969085

The parking in Dunnes Cornlscourt is nuts. I can see why the pair down Dunnes near by does well.

supereurope

Where was the Quinnsworth on Mary St? Can't recall it at all - was it part of the Penney's (both ABF-owned) or was it where the Lifestyle Sports is now? Or on a site incorporated into the Jervis SC?

Think it was there until the early/mid-1990s, and might not have been a supermarket but a "House & Home" store.

its_steve116

Apart from Kilkenny, which other counties never had a Quinnsworth or Crazy Prices-branded store?

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123003933#Comment_123003933

1986 street directory has Quinnsworth and Lifestyle in 20-21. This seems to have been between M&S and the Jervis Hospital so now part of Jervis SC.

Current Lifestyle is 40, which was a TV rental shop and possibly the front of the Mary Street Arcade then.

supereurope

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123029684#Comment_123029684

Thanks - thought it might have been where the Lifestyle is now. There was an early Power supermarket on Mary Street, I'm guessing the Quinnsworth was on the site of that shop.

Tony EH

What if Tesco hadn't bought Quinnsworth?

Vader would still be getting his special deal on Star Wars toys.

But Tesco wouldn't play ball, so he blew up Alderaan.

supereurope

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123026751#Comment_123026751

Just Roscommon and Leitrim I think. And Monaghan just scraped in - Quinnsworth opened there in December 1996, the last Quinnsworth to open before the takeover.

Moonbeam

It introduce us to big supermarkets like they had in France where you could literally buy anything, but it is a pity it was sold as it was an irish family owned supermarket chain and not a huge big foreign chain.

I remember the crazy prices in Finglas and you could get the Crazy Prices bus there.

supereurope

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123063392#Comment_123063392

Quinnsworth was only Irish-owned until 1972. That's when it was bought by Power Supermarkets, which was owned by Associated British Foods, which was ultimately owned by the Weston family of Canada.

3d4life

"….Weston family of Canada"

If you hunt around t'internet I think you will find that some of them 'lived' in Ireland ( i.e. perm address ) back then.

I have a recollection of some subsequent deaths :(

…… time gathers us all …. :(

The Weston family member that I really liked was the guy in England ( so probably in the ABF part of the empire ) who was fixing his lawnmower when some reporter turned up to interview him :) ( twas a good while ago )

Are Penney / Primark still part of the Weston empire ?

Penneys was driven from nothing to a global fashion chain by Arthur Ryan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ryan)

L1011

Primark is still part of ABF.