Lynch’s SPAR Claudy, in County Derry of Northern Ireland, has last month marked a major milestone of serving their local community for 40 years.
The store, which is owned and operated by Denis and Anne Lynch, opened in April 1985 with just eight employees and now employs fifty people from the local area.
Over the years, the Lynch family have invested over £1.3 million into the store, completing three significant refurbishments in 1987, 1993 and 2001 to bring the highest quality products and services to shoppers.
“We’ve invested significantly over the years to make three major refurbishments which have transformed our store to bring even more products to shoppers’ doorsteps, including an extended range of fresh and locally sourced produce,” Anne said.
Being a hub for their local community, the team is dedicated to the local organisations that are close to the hearts of their staff and shoppers including local schools, soccer and cricket clubs and their local GAA team.
The team celebrated their anniversary with a customer appreciation tea party, with coffee, tea and cakes for shoppers, spending the day reminiscing with loyal staff and customers. The store also gave back to shoppers with a ‘scratch card giveaway’ with prizes including a 42-inch TV, an air fryer and meat hampers from the instore butchery counter. Shoppers also enjoyed many special 40p deals to mark the anniversary.
“It was important to us to celebrate this milestone with our shoppers and to give back to them as a thank you for their support, without whom, we wouldn’t have had the success our family business has had over the last 40 years,” Denis said.
“We love serving our neighbours, seeing friendly faces every day and knowing we are a hub in our local community which has always been very important to us. We are committed to serving our community and we look forward to many more successful years at SPAR Claudy.”
The Lynch family have been dedicated retailers since 1980, operating nine SPAR and EUROSPAR stores across the North West and Mid Ulster areas, employing a total of over 500 people. The family, stores and staff are all deeply rooted in each of their communities, raising over £70,000 between the stores in the last five years for numerous local charities and community groups.
“The Lynch family is a perfect example of committed independent retailers helping to grow the SPAR and EUROSPAR brands and to bring even more value on shoppers’ doorsteps, supporting local suppliers and providing hundreds of local jobs throughout their retail outlets,” Patrick Doody, sales and marketing director at Henderson Group, which owns the SPAR franchise in Northern Ireland, commented.
“We all send our congratulations to the Lynch family and the whole team on this milestone, and we wish them every success for many more years to come.”
