National honours for Murphy’s of Castletownbere

BY HELEN RIDDELL 

MURPHY’S SuperValu in Castletownbere has been announced as winner of the 2022 Retail Store of the Year Medium Supermarket category at the National Grocery Retail Awards.   

The store, which is run by Lorraine and Chris Downey, was commended by the judges for being ‘an excellent store that really understands its customer base.’

The competition was tough, said Chris. 

‘The awards are open to all the main supermarket retailers in Ireland including Dunnes, Lidl and Aldi, so it is a huge achievement for us and our staff.’

Murphy’s SuperValu is one of the oldest retail premises in Castletownbere and the shop was opened by Daniel Murphy in 1830. 

In 1977 Dermot Murphy increased the retail space to 9,000sq ft, and joined the SuperValu group, becoming one of the first SuperValu stores in Ireland.  

Dermot’s daughter Lorraine Downey and her husband Chris took over the store in 2010, making Lorraine the sixth generation of the family to run the store. 

In 2017 the store underwent a major refurbishment, increasing its floor space to 15,000sq ft, which included a new 30-seat café.  

As well as serving the population of Beara, the shop also supplies the local and foreign fishing fleets landing in the adjacent Castletownbere fishery harbour.  

Its international client base was noted by the award judges. 

‘Visitors to this well-run store will find virtually any product they are seeking. Notable is the wide range of international products, no doubt popular with the fishermen in this maritime community,’ they said.

Murphy’s SuperValu is one of the largest employers in the Beara area and is involved in numerous local community initiatives, supporting the Castletownbere Tidy Town’s Group, the Castletownbere Development Association, and local GAA clubs throughout Beara.  

The National Grocery Retail Awards were launched in 2021 as Ireland’s premier awards for fresh food retailing. The awards were sponsored by Invest Northern Ireland.