Henderson Retail has officially opened its flagship community supermarket for 2024 after a multi-million-pound investment in the new site which now homes Eurospar Downpatrick as well as a Texaco-branded forecourt and two BP Pulse EV chargers.
The fresh foods supermarket on the Ardglass Road, which replaces the Connolly’s Spar in the town, has created 56 new jobs for the local area, while 17 staff from the old store have also transferred over.
Eurospar Downpatrick is Hendersons second fresh foods superstore in County Down, following the opening of Eurospar Killyleagh in June 2023.
The Delish Made in Store kitchen is a new concept for shoppers, providing a fully serviced kitchen where freshly prepared meals and salads that have been made by two local in-store chefs can be picked up throughout the day.
In addition, the food-to-go hot food deli and fresh bar has teams serving up fresh breakfast and lunch options from cooked breakfasts to filled wraps plus Eurospar’s popular Delish chicken bar with Southern Fried Chicken and chips throughout the day.
And the Delish Bakery is headed up by two local bakers who will bake a range of fresh breads, cakes and pastries every day, plus shoppers can see pancakes, soda and potato bread made fresh on the griddle pan throughout the day.
A butchery counter is fully serviced by Devlin’s, the local butchers operated by Michael Devlin from Ardglass.
Hendersons says the Downpatrick supermarket showcases the best local suppliers Northern Ireland has to offer throughout its selection of fresh produce, freshly pre-prepared own-brand meal ranges and fresh meat and poultry, alongside a huge selection of well-known brands, with over 75% of the fresh produce available in-store sourced locally.
Mark McCammond, retail director at Henderson Group, said that while traditional tills are manned by the customer service staff, the company’s most innovative, tech-led store will also see four self-checkouts installed.
“It is important for our shoppers to have the choice between traditionally ‘manned’ tills for our staff to help them checkout their shopping, alongside the self-checkouts, which have the exclusive Glory cash management system installed, meaning shoppers can use both card and cash, which is an excellent addition to a busy forecourt.
“Eurospar Downpatrick is a multi-functional site; shoppers will be calling in for fuel and food to go, but we also have shoppers taking advantage of our range of everyday essentials and value prices, to do their weekly shop. It is important we invest in facilities to make both trips as efficient as possible.
“This digitally led store also enables the team to communicate even more effectively with our shoppers via digital screens, displaying daily and weekly value deals and campaigns, plus offerings available at our Delish Made in Store kitchen as they change throughout the day.”
