The Henderson Group is to invest £47m in new products, product lines and infrastructure this year, and retailers will be supported by a £ 5.3m marketing strategy.
The company is to build on its success last year that saw its 100 store milestone exceeded with the opening of EuroSpar Clough.
A total of 28 new company-owned and independent Spa, EuroStarand Vivo stores and supermarkets were opened in 2021 across cities and villages.
The retailer and wholesaler respond to buyers ’needs and use local information to build new stores and renovate with local buyers. tasks in mind.
Mark McCammond, Henderson Group’s Director of Retail, said, “At the end of 2020, we committed to continuing to invest in high-quality community retailing in Northern Ireland to meet the changing needs of our resellers and buyers.
“Henderson Retail completed 20 major projects in 2021, including the construction and expansion of EuroSpar supermarkets.
“Not only will we open more large-scale EuroSpar supermarkets offering market-leading special offers and promotions throughout the year, including matching the price of more than a thousand products to Tesco, but we will also expand the footprint and offerings of our smaller brands. .
“We have about 26 major projects planned for 2022, as well as four other new construction projects starting in 2023.”
The double-digit growth of the ViVO brand was 10% last year after the opening of 12 new stores, which led to a 5% increase in retail sales.
Paddy Doody, Henderson Group’s Director of Sales and Marketing, said, “Independent retailers know what local buyers want, which is to stay local and buy local, which they can offer thanks to our solid range of brands.
“Last year, the UK’s largest SPAR store was opened in Castlederg, led by experienced SPAR retailers Charlie and Ruth Hamilton. It is a fresh food store and a new flagship store for Hamiltones, which operates two other stores in the Mid-Ulster area.
“The network of our company’s owned and independent stores has a strong impact on the industry and we have also experienced a record number of resellers over the past year who have moved from other brands to the SPAR, EUROSPAR or ViVO brands.”
2021 also celebrated SPAR’s 60th anniversary in Northern Ireland, and the Group honored many of its dealers who also marked business milestones throughout the year.
Henderson Wholesale now supplies products to more than 500 stores in Northern Ireland and continues to offer a wide range of locally sourced products and products from local suppliers’ fields and farms.
Doody said, “Our long-term local sourcing strategy has enabled us to gain a strong advantage over multiples that suffer from delays and shortcomings due to the NI protocol,”
'More than 75% of our fresh food is sourced from local farmers and suppliers, which is not only better for the environment in reducing food kilometers, but also for our economy to help local producers develop, expand and provide local jobs.
“Spar’s Joy of Living Locally strategy will be launched in early 2022, with the first of the new brand pillars – Value on your Doorstep – being launched this month, largely based on the foundation on which we act as retailers to provide high quality, local products at affordable prices. to our buyers.'