The announcement of SuperValu as the main sponsor to the All-Ireland senior football championship was met with delight in many quarters as the deal looks set to be a marriage made in heaven.

Both the retail chain and the GAA are the heart and soul of the community and they can draw many comparisons to one another. For this month's edition of Hogan Stand, we profile one of the longest serving SuperValu outlets in Ireland.

Bernie's SuperValu is owned and run by Bernie Colclough, a Westmeath native that put down his roots in the Tipperary town of Roscrea 63 years ago.

Bernie has the distinction of being on the Athlone senior football team that won the Westmeath SFC on no fewer than six consecutive times between 1955 and 1960, captaining to side to victory on one of those occasions.

Despite moving south shortly afterwards, Bernie never lost interest in his love of gaelic football and became involved with the Inane Rovers club, in which he played a pivotal ever since. Today, he is the vice-president of the club, while the store is the club's main sponsor.

Bernie's son Brian is the general manager of the store these days and he spoke to us about their close allegiance with the GAA that has spanned a life time.

"We were delighted when it was announced that SuperValu would be sponsoring the All-Ireland football championships. It is very important to give something back to the community, not just at national level, but locally too and we have been involved in a number of sponsorship deals across the community for many years," said Brian.

Located in Roscrea means that Bernie's SuperValu customer base is split equally between three counties, Tipperary, Offaly and Laois, which means there is plenty of GAA banter during the summer, while surrounding clubs have also benefited by the store's loyalty promotion where customers can collect tokens for jerseys.

"The loyalty promotion has proven to be very beneficial to clubs in the area and all have benefited from the promotion. Our customer base would be split equally between the three counties, so all clubs have reaped the rewards."

Bernie's SuperValu Roscrea is one of the first retailers in Ireland to actually join SuperValu in 1979, the year the group was launched.

SuperValu was introduced in 1979 in Munster by wholesaler Musgrave Group, with initially 27 former VG stores signing up to the new format in year one. Today there are over 200 SuperValu supermarkets throughout Ireland and, of the 27 original SuperValu stores in 1979, 21 are still trading 31 years later, including Bernie's SuperValu Roscrea.

Colclough's SuperValu is part of this dynamic business which is clearly Ireland's most versatile grocery retail group, outranking competitors in the provision of quality products, competitive prices and better operating standards. With over 30 years of experience in tailoring supermarket shopping Bernie's SuperValu Roscrea can offer local shoppers the best of both worlds - commitment to the traditional values of good fresh foods and excellent service, combined with the price power and state-of-the art retail systems of a big national supermarket group.

Many multi-national companies with huge resources have entered the Irish grocery market, but they cannot match the service and community role that local owners like Bernie's SuperValu provide all over Ireland.

Bernie Colclough began trading on Main Street, Roscrea over 30 years ago, but in 1968 he decided to go it alone and open a VG supermarket in what is now trading as Moran's fashion store on Main Street. Bernie then decided to join the SuperValu Group when he moved the store to its existing premises in 1979. Bernie Colclough and the Colclough family have always placed all their energies in building on customer satisfaction.

The purpose built SuperValu supermarket was upgraded in 2003, certainly exceeded their customers expectation.

The Colclough family have revamped twice since, in 1994 the family redeveloped the store by increasing the shop floor space and product range as well as providing a parking facility to the rear of the store for up to 100 cars, in order to meet with changing consumers needs and after listening to the advice of their customers they also added a number of shopping units to the complex, which meant Bernie's Roscrea would become a one-stop shop, appealing to all age groups in the community.

Bernie's, who have always been one step ahead of their competitors decided in 2003 that it was again time to revamp the store and Bernie together with the help of Brian, married their expertise and redeveloped SuperValu Roscrea to become what is now a flag-ship store for the SuperValu Group with a refurbished coffee dock and other new facilities include baby change facilities, mother & child parking, newspapers /magazines and the brand new in-store Off Licence 'The Cellar at SuperValu'.

Today, Colclough's SuperValu employs over 90 people from the local community.

"We buy locally, employ 90 people locally, and invest in our local economy through sponsorship, job creation and the use of local services. Living and working in Roscrea, it only makes sense for us to contribute to the wealth and prosperity of our town.

"We support many local, social, sporting and community projects that are important to both customers and staff. We are proud to have been one of the original 27 SuperValu stores in Ireland and with the support of our staff, some of whom have been here for many, many years, and our customers, we hope to serve the local area for many more years to come."

Being part of a large nationwide group of stores one could see how some people may think that a SuperValu of this size could become impersonal like many of its competitors. However there is one significant point of difference. Bernie's SuperValu is part of a nationwide group of independent and Irish owned supermarkets, which means Bernie's SuperValu Roscrea has the ability to offer local shoppers the best of both worlds - commitment to the traditional values of good fresh foods and excellent friendly local service, combined with the price power and state-of-the art retail systems of a big national supermarket group.

The Management and staff of Bernie's SuperValu Roscrea look forward to continuing to supply an excellent service to their customers for many years to come. Tweet

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