When did Tesco actually enter the Irish market ?

this link says there was a separate group of stores called Tesco Ireland in the 1980s. I remember gubays and 3 guys but dont remember the name tesco being used for them.

I remember Albert Gubay being on the Late Late Show before he opened the 3 guys chain and consequently gaining a lot of publicity.

The shops were very basic, a lot of stock was sold straight out of the outer box packaging.

They built their stores slightly out of some towns and some ( Mullingar is one at least) eventually became Tesco in their present form.

I think the Tesco in Ballyfermot was also a Tesco back then before it was a Quinnsworth/Crazy Prices. I remember seeing some old Tesco trollies still in the bay there in the early 90s.

Yep that's correct about the one at Molloys. I remember that one too but can't recall if I was ever in it. I was in the cafe near Kavanaghs a few years ago and they had a massive photo on the wall of that shop when it was still branded Power Supermarkets.

I only remember Payne's Spar where Kavanaghs is now. 1986 was a little bit before I can remember!

There's even two in Leitrim - most retailers only ever have one in Carrick and nothing else!

Mad that I've just come across this thread. I saw this advertisement for Tesco in 1982 with a list of the stores open across Ireland at the time, this must have been after they came to Ireland for the first time. The newspaper is Westmeath Examiner, Saturday, November 27, 1982.

There was a similar situation when Tesco tried to build a store in Listowel. The local SuperValu franchise holder (Garveys) successfully objected to it.

I remember the old Tesco in Tralee back in the 80s before it became H Williams and then a Dunnes which it currently still is for over 30 years

Giant was a very short-lived name in Irish supermarkets. It was a last-ditch attempt by H Williams to save itself from collapse by repositioning itself as a Crazy Prices-style discounter.

Since I posted my question, I think I've found the answer! A Tesco store opened in Tullamore just before Christmas 1984, that would be the sixth, bringing to total to 23.

For anyone wanting to find out more the British Newspaper Archive website is worth a look. Despite the name it covers Irish papers as well (not just the nationals but the locals as well!). Sadly it's a subscription service to read the actual papers but you can search for free - the results bring up a couple of lines from the article!

The following link brings up all mentions of Tesco in Republic of Ireland papers durung the 80s. You can then select individual years from that.

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results/1980-01-01/1989-12-31?basicsearch=tesco&somesearch=tesco&country=ireland&retrievecountrycounts=false&mostspecificlocation=ireland&region=republic%20of%20ireland%2c%20republic%20of%20ireland

Several Tesco (mark I) stores were sold to Quinnsworth after Tesco's 1986 withdrawal…Nutgrove was definitely one. Newbridge and Lucan as well. And after H Williams (which bought the bulk of Tesco stores) collapsed in 1987, Quinnsworth took over four of its stores, three of which were former Tesco store, Prussia Street for example, so you had the situation where a supermarket was a Tesco, became Quinnsworth, then went back to Tesco again.

I was trying to figure out a few weeks back what had become of the original 23 Tesco Mark I supermarkets here, and I admit looking up Tesco's Mullingar activity gave me a headache! A lot happened there with stores being taken over, closed, renamed or just moving premises.

Without knowing the town of Mullingar at all, I worked it out pretty similar to what you said. Here's the longer history:

• 1971: Power Supermarkets and Penney's (both owned by the Weston family via Associated British Foods) opened in Mullingar;
• 1972: Power Supermarkets takes over Pat Quinn's Quinnsworth chain, and despite being the larger entity, Power decided to drop its own branding and use the Quinnsworth name for all its supermarkets. The Power supermarket in Mullingar is then renamed Quinnsworth;
• 1979: Quinnsworth buys the Five Star supermarket chain, inheriting Five Star's existing store in Mullingar. The same year, the 3 Guys supermarket chain opened a branch in the town. The founder of 3 Guys, Albert Gubay, had already sold the chain to Tesco, but the new Mullingar supermarket opened under the 3 Guys name;
• 1980: The 3 Guys supermarket is rebranded as Tesco;
• 1981: Quinnsworth buys the Wallaces building in Mullingar, and later that year, both Quinnsworth and Penney's move to their new location. The new supermarket also replaces the former Five Star supermarket;
• 1986: Tesco withdraws from the Irish market. In a surprise move, H Williams takes over most of the former Tesco stores. The Tesco Mullingar store is then renamed H Williams;
• 1987: H Williams collapses. A firm called Aviette bought the chain but immediately sold on four former H Williams stores to Quinnsworth. The Mullingar store was one of them;
• 1988: Quinnsworth moves into the former Tesco/H Williams supermarket. The Penney's store remains in its 1981 location;
• 1992: Quinnsworth converts its Mullingar store to Crazy Prices, its discount brand;
• 1997: Tesco returns to Ireland after 11 years, buying Associated British Food's Irish supermarket business. Penney's in not included in the deal;
• 1999: The Mullingar supermarket becomes Tesco again.

Phew! That's quite a lot of activity in one town.

Quite a few older Dunnes are still like that - Blackpool SC is one. My mother says the old Mallow store (which was tiny) was a nightmare if you were just in for drapery, with trolleys heading to/from the supermarket bashing into you. Most newer stores or newly-revamped Dunnes tend to split clothing and groceries "vertically" as opposed to "horizontally" (that's the best way I can describe it!)

Tralee's largest Dunnes has drapery and homeware in front of groceries but the aisles are nice and wide so doesnt feel congested. I suspect the positioning is intentional as weekly grocery shoppers often end up buying a clothing or home item they probably hadn't intended on as they pass by the merchandise on their way to the food hall.

InIncidentally the second smaller Dunnes in Tralee was formally a first generation Tesco back in the 80s. At one point Tralee had 4 Dunnes Stores in the town but the 2 town centre ones were drapery only (now occupied by Easons and Elverys Sports respectively).