Superquinn to become SuperValu

April O Neill

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Waitrose (if they ever set up in Ireland) FTW!

It wouldn't survive in this climate, being more expensive than both M&S and SQ.

Molloys Clondalkin

As someone who works for a supplier of both companies and lidl and aldi tey are all the same.
With the exception that superquinn has very high quality standards andgoes to its suppliers twice a year to audit them.
They are the only ones who do this regularly but the product is the same as aldi who just negotiated a better price.

Fred Swanson

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SpaceTime

keith16 wrote: »

I don't understand why they are changing the name. They could easily retain the brand. As someone else said, there is probably a huge number of people who won't shop there any more even tho they buy the same over-rated crap (and end up throwing half of it out).

It's pretty simple really - it costs an absolute fortune to maintain two brands when you only need one. The marketing costs would be huge and there are massive synergies to be built upon by merging the two.

Also, with regard to SuperValu stores being different, they're all franchise holders (other than SuperValu in Spain). So, individual stores may differ somewhat.

The ex-SuperQuinn stores will be run directly by Musgraves themselves so the standards will be pretty high and uniform.

Good SuperValu stores, are absolutely excellent while some of the lower end ones aren't great / too small.

I can't really see any reason why the change of brand will impact on the quality of the goods/services in the stores themselves. Musgraves are hugely into artisan food and the high end SuperValu stores definitely have a range that's very similar to Superquinn in many respects, so I really see no reason why that wouldn't extend to superquinn stores.

Also, I think the SuperValu own-brand range is FAR better than the SuperQuinn euro-whatever it was brand.
For own-brand goods it's opening up huge buying power to those stores that they wouldn't have had as SuperQuinn, especially for things like household goods etc.

It also gives them a lot more sway over major suppliers e.g. Unilever, P&G, etc so they could potentially put themselves on a better footing when competing with Dunnes and Tesco.

At the end of the day, retail's a cut throat business and every cent counts. Maintaining two different brands wouldn't be justifiable and would kind of defeat the purpose of buying the stores in the first place in many respects.

Fred Swanson

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Capt'n Midnight

mohawk wrote: »

The Supervalu near me only does the Cuisine de France stuff which is grand but Superquinn does some lovely crusty rolls which I prefer.

Cuisine de France is nice, but usually undercooked and it's unedible a few hours later

I wouldn't rate it better than the Lidl stuff, and don't get me started on what centra try to pass off as bread

Capt'n Midnight

SpaceTime wrote: »

At the end of the day, retail's a cut throat business and every cent counts. Maintaining two different brands wouldn't be justifiable and would kind of defeat the purpose of buying the stores in the first place in many respects.

The only reason to maintain two brands is if there exists the possibility that you can make more from an ABC1 shopper in the areas where the Superquinns are than you make from the areas where the Supervalus are, which in South West Dublin, apart from Palmerstown, are in areas with rather less ABC1 shoppers

Thom Merrilin

I blame The IRA

rustedtrumpet

I sure as hell hope they don't get rid of the sausages. They are so yummy

Christ the Redeemer

They make the greatest chicken baguette this side of the ort cloud.

You can barely call the mess supervalu **** out a baguette.

I'll also miss the free cheese and meats they leave out, always a great experience to shop there. I was also an employee many moons ago.

Sad to see.

Christ the Redeemer

SpaceTime wrote: »

It's pretty simple really - it costs an absolute fortune to maintain two brands when you only need one. The marketing costs would be huge and there are massive synergies......

and were done reading here..

WilyCoyote

SuperValue, Sundrive? Doesn't sound the same.

studiorat

April O Neill wrote: »

It wouldn't survive in this climate, being more expensive than both M&S and SQ.

Yet DBrook Fair and the like does...

gobnaitolunacy

Sir Humphrey Appleby wrote: »

Hardly Iconic OP.
A predominantly Dublin chain.
I doubt anyone will notice tbh.

Don't have one anywhere near me, therefore no difference to me.

SuperValu should have been rebranded 'So-soValu'. They've done the Martin Solveig song to death in their ads...now we've the Darkness to get sick to the back teeth of.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

anncoates wrote: »

Fair enough, I was obviously being facetious but making a serious point.

SQ has performed this - admittedly genius - business where people will pay more to shop in - what is still essentially - a supermarket where the majority of goods can be bought cheaper elsewhere but would feel ashamed to do so,.

I'm not the target audience because I just go shopping to buy decent quality food and other items wherever I can find them - supermarket, wholesalers, wherever, and I'm not concerned with paying way over the odds "for a shopping experience" or to the privilege of smelling baking bread when I shop.

There's definitely a profitable market for it though and I would doubt that the mothership will drastically change the SQ shops that they take over if they have any sense.

The quality of products in Superquinn tends to be a lot higher than other supermarkets.

The selection of fruit, veg, cheese and meats is fantastic.

The Supervalue in Killester is pretty awesome too. It's the smaller shops that tend to be less desirable.

I wouldn't worry too much about the sausages. We allways have Ms Hick's sausages

l5auim2pjnt8qx

Myself and my partner where a frequent shopper at "Superquinn Lucan" since 2006 until recently.

Firstly : The Sharp rise in items Jan 2013, from meat,poultry dairy and alcohol products vastly on wines which where far greater than any other chain of supermarkets.

Secondly: Sausages the big money spinner for Superquinn which a lot of people go mainly for have dropped in quality ,the taste just not the same replaced with a cheaper meat substitute and water induced substance.

Thirdly: Been followed around the store by plain clothes security and then been watched closely as we put our items through the check outs ?? (The same guy then runs behind his security kiosk beside the self service check outs and continues to ogle us as we exit the store:rolleyes:).
This has happened the last 4 occasions and we did think of informing the Manager but thought that it would make us look suspicious and the embarrassment and hassle of it.....so we decided to not shop there anymore after 6 years.

The Name from Superquinn to Supervalu hasn't really come as a surprise to us not only by name but from a friendly professional Chain to an unfriendly hostile low end chain. "Lights Out".

SpaceTime

My local SuperValu has a huge in store bakery making really good bread, massive deli, huge selection of fresh fish, far better wine selection than Tesco or Dunnes and a load of local artisan products.

It even has a huge range of products from the English market in Cork.

I think part of the issue is that you've never had many good SuperValu stores in Dublin.

In Cork City many of them would be pretty much en par with Superquinn.

Take SuperValu Glanmire for example. It's one of the highest end supermarkets in Ireland. Huge range of products, extremely fancy layout and multiple in store deli areas serving about 30 types of freshly baked bread (not cussine de France stuff), cakes, pastries, in store produced ready meals, preprepared ingredients for home cooking, a selection of cheese that is vastly superior to tesco etc

They even have greeters at the door to welcome you to the store !

Musgrave's can do and have been doing very high end retail for years. I don't think that you'll see much change other than some of the more clapped out SQ stores getting a revamp.

They know very well how to cater to the top segment of the market.

If anything, you might see improvements as I think things really slipped after Fergal Quinn sold out and property developers were running the show.

Musgrave's are Ireland's largest retailer and they really do know retail. So, its in much better hands than with a bunch of speculators!

Fred Swanson

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SpaceTime

I think the issue is more that it's a "symbol group" i.e. each store is a local franchisee.

So, in some cases they're just the local rural supermarket and in other cases they can be a high-end gourmet shopping experience, it just depends.

Superquinn on the otherhand is a small single chain. So, it's never going to be as varied as SuperValu's other stores.

That being said, some of the Superquinn stores aren't as classy as the flagship ones and many of them are starting to look like they're overdue a refit. The decor looks quite worn out, even in Blackrock.

...

The same applies to lots of chains though. I mean, for example some Tesco stores are very good while others are really basic. Dunnes is even more dramatically different. Their flagship stores are often excellent while the also have some really rough and ready stores in some areas.

They all tend to cater to the local market and that can mean if there's less competition or less spending power the store won't innovate or may not have the range.

So, if you're in an area with a lot of competition and high spending power i.e. a major urban area (especially a wealthier suburban area) you will get a lot of excellent products in the supermarkets. If it's a rural area with one player, they don't have to bother innovating and if it's in an area with low income / low spending power, there won't be any demand for expensive items and competition will all be around discounting so the stores are going to be a lot more basic looking.

...

I think though people are really overreacting to this change of branding.
Superquinn was sold by Fergal Quinn in 2005 and basically saved from the brink of oblivion by the sale to Musgraves, having spent a few years owned by property developers.

It hasn't really been the old Superquinn for the last 8 years and it's also operating in a much tougher market now with reduced spending power and increased competition. Tesco and Dunnes are much more price aware than they were before the recession and Lidl and Aldi are more present than ever.

The other big factor is that M&S has a lot more presence than it did in in the 1990s/early 2000s and has suburban stores and stores in towns that it didn't have before then. OK, I know it's closing 4 stores, but it has a much greater footprint than it did in the old days where it basically had stores in central Dublin and Cork and that was about it.

So, really Superquinn / Supervalu is operating in a very different retail landscape to the 'good old days' when we weren't very price conscious and when competition wasn't anywhere near as fierce as it is now.

There's also a lot of nostalgia about the brand, which you have to put into the context of competing against pretty basic 1980s/90s Quinsworth stores that were really quite small compared to what Tesco and Dunnes now offer.

Quite a bit of rose-tinted retrospective glasses being worn I think.

noddyone2

Puzzle35 wrote: »

Love superquin, detest super value, you don't know what you've been missing, try their bakery and their sausages, oh and their salads......... Big big loss........

I used to love shopping in the Waterford store. Definitely gone downhill.
Their sausages , for the last 5 years or so, have been made by Larry Goodman's outfit. 'Nuff said.

soundsofgeisha

Will they still have the 'super scan' facility I wonder? That was the best thing about shopping in Superquinn - using the scan gun as you went along and there was never anyone in the super scan queue.

starlit

Superquinn are good for breads I haven't one close by other than superv and tesco. Superq is in limerick though but shame about m and s. I like super value it's handy when special offers are on unlike tesco stuff goes out of date quickly. Dunnes isn't too bad. Aldi and lidl good prices but depends on food I be fussy I prefer lidl but aldi be ok for some things I buy. I find little difference in prices for small grocery shop though notice difference for a big grocery shop as in shopping for food not newsagent v supermarket.

danjo-xx

I only went in there to see how the udder half lives or if there was a bargain on booze:P

andyman

Nobody tell that "Hope ur ok hun xoxo" wan on Facebook. She wil hav a bleedin eppo if hur ri ri dosen get hur superquinn sausies.

uberalles

sugar_fiend wrote: »

your not the only one , always assumed it was the supermarket for those who earned over 100 k per year and lived in dalkey

Its possible to selectively shop there and freeze the special offers.
e.g. If there is a special on steak of say 33% off you can buy a few and freeze it.

Sometimes the bread is on special and you can freeze it. Tip - make sure each slice is separate and dont compress it. The Corn bread is really something and the brown bread superb.

The bread even at full price is worth it.

Sprog 4

hcass wrote: »

I can't believe it - the meat in Superquinn is far superior to anywhere else (supermarkets I mean) . I love Superquinn. I'm gutted.

At least I still have JC's. JC's for life!

Ah, JC's. Now there is a true icon. I remember they had Prosecco on for 4.50 a bottle before anyone had heard of the stuff. Goes for 12.99 nowadays :mad:

Viva La Gloria

Each Superquinn store has two brand ambassadors who are there to answer any general queries and concerns that customers may have regarding the name change

Amirani

uberalles wrote: »

Its possible to selectively shop there and freeze the special offers.
e.g. If there is a special on steak of say 33% off you can buy a few and freeze it.

Sometimes the bread is on special and you can freeze it. Tip - make sure each slice is separate and dont compress it. The Corn bread is really something and the brown bread superb.

The bread even at full price is worth it.

They discount their bread at the end of the day. All fresh bread becomes €1.

ted1

rustedtrumpet wrote: »

I sure as hell hope they don't get rid of the sausages. They are so yummy

Haha you like sausage

sdanseo

Jimoslimos wrote: »

M&S is way overrated (and overpriced)

Waitrose (if they ever set up in Ireland) FTW!

April O Neill wrote: »

It wouldn't survive in this climate, being more expensive than both M&S and SQ.

Superquinn actualy ranged Waitrose ready meals for a time a few years ago. They didn't last.