What if Tesco hadn't bought Quinnsworth?

its_steve116

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123650721#Comment_123650721

Mullingar receipt from 1993. (I wasn't born yet.)

Hibernicis

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123651119#Comment_123651119

It was a mix of location and legacy. A number of the Crazy Prices stores started life as branches of Albert Gubey's "3 Guys" chain of 13 (?) bare bones "cardboard cartons on the floor" discount stores in the 70s. He sold these to Tesco (Mk 1) who later sold to H Williams. When H Williams went bust in 1986 a number of the stores were taken over by Quinnsworth and some of these were subsequently rebranded as Crazy Prices. Overall Crazy Prizes was an odd mix of some large and soulless warehouses and smaller dingy kips. PSL wanted a clear differentiation between these and the more mid-to-premium image that it wanted for it's Quinnsworth branded stores, especially as it was aiming to go upmarket with the likes of the "flagship" branch in Merrion and later Bloomfields in Dun Laoghaire.

its_steve116

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123651222#Comment_123651222

Yeah, but did Quinnsworth have the animatronic monkeys and elephants in the fruit and veg section? 😂

supereurope

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123651119#Comment_123651119

Looking at that list of stores, some Crazy Prices supermarkets were older Quinnsworth stores (the Waterford CP in Lisduggan was a fairly early QW) that perhaps weren't profitable enough to justify bringing up to standards or supermarkets that QW acquired through takeovers, so wouldn't have been originally built to QW requirements (the Roxboro CP opened as a Lipton's, Clonmel was a Five Star, Dundrum/Sandyford was originally a H Williams), so I think (thankfully) there was more to it than just "Crazy Prices was the name Quinnsworth used for poor areas."

supereurope

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123651136#Comment_123651136

Trying to work out the history of Bray supermarkets is terribly confusing because there was so much takeover activity in the town. There was Power which bought Quinnsworth, Lipton's which was bought by Five Star which was in turn bought by Quinnsworth, 3 Guys which was bought by Tesco and then Quinnsworth etc.

I remember reading about Bloomfields opening, would have been around the summer of 1997 IIRC, it was announced the previous summer I think and still opened under that name despite the takeover in between. I wonder if the Bloomfields brand would have been rolled out further to more upmarket areas if Tesco hadn't come on the scene. I imagine the Merrion Centre supermarket would have become one.

Hibernicis

Tesco bought PLS/QW/CP in March 97. Bloomfields opened in May 97. So it was a PSL/Quinnsworth concept that opened on Tesco's watch. The next similar occurrence was the PSL/QW planned new store in Golden Island Athlone which opened as a Tesco store in October 1997, the first store to have the Tesco name over the door since Tesco MK1's departure in the 80s. And it actually looked pretty plastic and cheap when compared to Bloomfields store. The rebranding of all other QW and CP stores to Tesco followed on from this.

There was talk in the trade in the 90s about Quinnsworth going after Superquinn at the premium tier. Merrion was their first shot and did very well for them. Bloomfields was I think a soft launch for premium level sub-brand. I don't think the name was important, it was more to test the range, layout, ambience etc etc. It was opposite end of the scale to the other Quinnsworth store in Dun Laoghaire at the time, which was just 500m away in the basement of Dun Laoghaire Shopping Centre (where PSL's Gresham House HQ was located). This all coincided with the Dick Reeves leaving PSL in 1996 and his replacement by Maurice Pratt. Reeves, having been very successful during his time at the top in PSL/QW, was poached/headhunted "back" by Dunnes to become MD and join the board, filling the vacancy left by Ben's departure some years earlier - Heffernan wanted to shift Dunnes upmarket, and wanted Reeves to manage it now that Ben was well out of the way. Quinnsworth's market share had grown considerable during Reeve's time, and Dunne's had diminished. Heffernan wanted him to change that.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123651119#Comment_123651119

A few years ago on Boards we ponder why Finglas had a Superquinn, and of all of the shops the musgraves should have rebranded it was possible the Finglas shops, snobbery is everywhere. (might have been on this thread?)

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123651119#Comment_123651119

You didn't have to be told it, when your local Quinnsworth became a Crazy Prices (as ours did) it was pretty obvious what they thought of you

its_steve116

So, which CP stores were Quinnsworth beforehand and which were Crazy Prices all the way through to the Tesco takeover?

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123652706#Comment_123652706

Ballyfermot was converted to Crazy Prices in the early 90s.

supereurope

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123652706#Comment_123652706

The supermarket at the Janelle SC in Finglas was the fifth Crazy Prices to open, but the first "new build" one, the previous four (Kilbarrack, Dundrum, Ballymun and Dundalk) were all Quinnsworth conversions. As far as I know, the CPs in The Square, Omni Park in Santry, Ballinasloe, Portlaoise and in the Longwalk in Dundalk were all new builds as well.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123651578#Comment_123651578

"Dundrum/Sandyford was originally a H Williams"

On Sandyford Road? Are you sure?

The H Williams was up beside the church, opposite Moreen.

supereurope

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123653284#Comment_123653284

Absolutely…opened by H Williams back in the 1960s, then Quinnsworth bought it in 1982. Then a few months after that, Quinnsworth sold its Balally supermarket to H Williams, that's the one across from the church that is now a SuperValu.