Centra is a

convenience shop A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lottery t ...

chain that operates throughout

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The chain operates as a

symbol group A symbol group is a form of Franchising, franchise of convenience shops, found primarily in the United Kingdom and Ireland. They do not own or operate shops, but act as suppliers to independent shops which then trade under a common banner. Unli ...

owned by

Musgrave Group Musgrave Group Ltd. is an Irish food wholesaler, founded in Cork by the Musgrave brothers, Thomas and Stuart in 1876. It is currently Ireland's largest grocery distributor, with operations in Ireland and Spain with estimated annual sales of ove ...

, the food wholesaler, meaning the individual shops are all owned by individual franchisees. The chain has three different formats available to franchisees—smaller Quick Stop outlets, mid-sized Foodmarkets, and larger Supermarkets. The majority of the shops follow the Quick Stop format, or are simply branded Centra, as Musgrave also offers the SuperValu format, which is geared towards larger supermarkets. There are currently approximately 480 Centra shops in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

and approximately 80 in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. In 2016, Centra posted a 3% increase in sales to €1.59bn. Centra's main competitors are

Gala Gala may refer to: Music * ''Gala'' (album), a 1990 album by the English alternative rock band Lush * Gala (singer), Italian singer and songwriter *'' Gala – The Collection'', a 2016 album by Sarah Brightman * GALA Choruses, an association of ...

, Spar and Londis, as well as a number of smaller groups such as

Costcutter Costcutter is a convenience shop symbol group operating as two separate entities with different ownerships in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It previously had stores in Poland. The shops are independently owned and join the gro ...

. The chain was originally launched in the Republic of Ireland as "VG" in 1960. In 1979, the VG chain was rebranded SuperValu with the smaller outlets subsequently rebranded as Centra. The company brought both of these brands to Northern Ireland, the latter through the acquisition and subsequent rebranding of

Wellworths Wellworths was a supermarket chain, owned by the Fitzwilton trading in Northern Ireland until 1997. In the early 1990s, it was the dominant food retailer in Northern Ireland, with an estimated 22 to 24 percent market share in 1992. Along with ...

shops. Centra has over 560 shops throughout the island of Ireland. In 2018, plans were announced to open 30 new stores and redevelop 100 others. The business employs over 11,000 people and serves over three million customers per week.

References

Retail companies established in 1960 Supermarkets of Northern Ireland Retail companies of Ireland Companies of the Republic of Ireland Supermarkets of Ireland Irish brands Convenience stores {{supermarket-stub

See also

References