When did Tesco actually enter the Irish market ?

Tesco entered the Irish Market twice.

The first time they entered, they purchased a small supermarket chain 3 Guys which had been established by Albert Gubay, not sure when maybe late 70's. It failed after a year or two. I remember (as a kid) going with the parents a few times, but it was stocked exactly the same as a UK outlet, so no Irish brands like Barrys Tea, and the various irish brands of bread, only English brands, so we would shop there, and then go to H Williams or Dunnes for the Bread and Tea etc and after a few trips (like every one else) gave up on them.

Tesco Mark II came in 1997, when they bought "Quinnsworth" and "Crazy Prices".

I remember (on the ocasion of the take over) listening to an executive being interviewing on RTÉ (one that had come from Quinnsworth) and was asked why did Tesco think they would be successfull this time, when it had failed before, and he said something like, they had come to reailse that Irish Customers were just English Customers with Funny Accents"...

They had a fairly substantial number of stores (22) before quitting in the late 80s - loads of British retailers left: MFI, BHS (came back, briefly), Woolworths.

Until it was skipped recently, there was an old shopping bag in my parents house from some shop that had "Tesco Shopping Centre, Lucan" as their address, with a six digit phone number so from the 80s period - the anchor in that centre became a Crazy Prices, then Tesco again and may even briefly have been H. Williams.

It was, there's a slightly distinctive style to the 80s Tesco buildings.

Quinnsworth themselves were already in Ballyfermot before buying that - 1986 street directory has down beside where Kavanaghs is now in the row shops nearly opposite the current store and in the unit that's now Molloys Liquor Stores at Grange Cross, might have been split food / hardware like a lot of older Quinnsworths were.

Did a bit of digging and the one near Kavanaghs had originally been a Five Star - a chain owned by the company behind Tullamore Dew whiskey weirdly - which Quinnsworth/Powers bought in the late 70s. They probably already had the one at Grange Cross when they bought it.

Mergers that left you owning three supermarkets on the same road wouldn't normally be allowed now!

It's a remarkable(ish) fact that despite it's market penetration there is no Tesco in all of Kilkenny.

It's not for the lack of trying..

Interesting article about Tesco from the Irish Examiner https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20051794.html

The article is from 2008 and says

My memory of the lack of Tesco in Kilkenny was a bit 'lets keep this English supermarket out', while 'our own' Dunnes Stores had its own controversies and even a government investigation, which tended to be largely forgiven or at least ignored.

there was definitely one in ballybrack

Think it was gubays cause that is what everyone called it for years even when it was Tesco and every other incarnation

I was born in 76, don’t remember gubays but I remember it being a Tesco in the 80’s

Then it may have been Quinnsworth for a period. I say this because it used to be split in 2 stores back then and pretty sure they had the hardware/ games in the back store with quinnsworth name ….. I spent my pocket money there on a few occasions….. remember getting transformers, (one that turned into a tape deck (proper 80’s 🤣))and Lego tecnics 😂

Front store definitely became super crazy prices and possibly H Williams for a period …… was it called Giant at one point for a very short period? Pretty sure it had a brief period with an unusual name.

It’s Tesco again since they came back in the late 90’s and the 2 stores were knocked into 1 bigger shop many many years ago

I remember getting my 1990 packie bonner jersey in similar setup quinnsworth store in bray so possibly this was also a Tesco back in the 80’s also but I can’t really remember that…. I must ask my old man or aunt. That deffo had less name changes .

And for anyone interested, Lidl in Shankill was built as a huge h Williams in the mid to late 80’s then split in half to make a pub called the corbawn tavern and the supermarket became a super value. Was idle for years I think before Lidl came along and rebuilt everything

realised after that I wasn’t even answering your question at all 🤣 and hadn’t looked at the ad above properly

Just found another thread with great info about above

I recall both Tesco and Quinnsworth being competitors in the 80s before Tesco Ireland went bust. A lot of the original Tesco's were smaller'slupermarkets ala Londis etc. and they couldnt compete ehen Quinnsworth, Dunnes etc started getting larger stores.

Similar circumstances in Mullingar. The 3 Guys store became Tesco but closed. Quinnsworth moved from where the Shaws department Store now is, up to a site which is now (approximately) where the current Penny's store is, and then moved up to the original 3 Guys site which is Tesco to this day. (Phew!)

When Powers was in that location in Austin Friars Street, Penny's had the front section of the shop and Powers supermarket had the rear section. Indeed Dunnes original stores had clothing at the front and groceries at the back. It's a graphic illustration of how retail space has expanded over the years.

Well, of the two newest stores in Galway, BriarHill is on two levels, Food on the ground floor and the rest upstairs, where was with Knocknacarra, there is only one level, Food to the left side, and drapery on the right as you go in.

Maynooth Dunnes is only ~20 years old (and mostly unrenovated since new) and has the food behind everything else.