What if Tesco hadn't bought Quinnsworth?

Having lived in the UK, I'd quite like Waitrose to come in. It looked for a while it might happen too...in 2003 it did a deal with Superquinn to stock its ready meals and a few other products. I think some people saw it as the first step in a Waitrose entry to ROI (and Superquinn would have been the ideal partner, since the concept of both was similar), but the events of 2008 killed any chance of it happening back then. Brexit and the cost of living crisis will ensure it won't ever happen.

EDIT: I thought Waitrose did the deal in 2005/2006, but I looked it up and it was actually earlier than that.

They are doing it a nasty way. They are basically saying get a clubcard or we are going to rip you off

A more civilised age.

Dunnes jumped on any potential sites, just as they did for any potential Tesco stores.

Some 80s development proposals in Kilkenny had Quinnsworth anchors and never got built though

I stumbled across this May 1979 Quinnsworth ad a few months ago while looking up something else in the newspaper archives. Full of confidence as the 1980s loomed, but the promise of "…a Quinnsworth store in every county in Ireland" was never achieved. Its successor has only just achieved it now, over 45 years later.

In terms of would it have survived , it's unlikely. Most smaller supermarket chains have since closed/sold, the one in Swords was bought over by Dunnes recently

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/dunnes-seeks-to-acquire-jc-s-supermarket-in-swords-1.3958123

and the independent Galway chain is gone. I was told by a previous employee the Galway independents had a deal with co-op UK to buy all their stock with their larger buying power but brexit stopped that making sense. You really need a massive market to buy in the basics and clones of popular brands to stay relevant. Tesco entered the USA market and lost a fortune and left in 2013

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-22179255

I know of a place where the yellow crazy pricing shelving still lives on. It's from the greystones branch and it's a strong as houses.

Tesco Irish HQ were in the Dun Laoghaire branch but over time they pulled back much of the Irish management to UK based. The Irish HQ was more for show "Tesco Ireland" but much of the stock was and is from UK.

I think Tesco missed a beat but not keeping a more discount branch like crazy prices in poorer areas. They left the door open for Aldi and Lidl as there was no real large discounter any more.

I agree - Quinnsworth would have survived into the 21st century without the Tesco takeover. Thing is, a takeover had to happen, because ABF/the Westons wanted to exit the food business in Ireland, so if Tesco hadn't bought it, someone else would have.

Hypothetically, if ABF hadn't wanted to exit food retailing, it's interesting to think where Quinnsworth would have gone. It likely would have gone further upmarket, something it had already started pre-1997, with the end of Yellow Pack and the introduction of the "Premium Choice" own brand. As well as that, around the time of the Tesco deal, Quinnsworth were preparing to open (in Dun Laoghaire) their first store under the fancy "Bloomfields" brand, an attempt to take on M&S. It's likely we would have seen more Bloomfields open, and maybe some Quinnsworth stores in well-off areas converting to Bloomfields. I imagine some other Bloomfields features would have flowed down to regular Quinnsworth stores.

On the other end of the market, it would have been interesting to see how Crazy Prices would have handled the arrival of the German discounters - would they have exited that market or taken the Germans on?

Tesco always had a big non-food operation, but Quinnsworth growth would have been limited in this area as ABF already had Penney's. They might have expanded their hardware, tech, toys offering though.

Quinnsworth might have bought Superquinn when it collapsed instead of Musgraves/Supervalu, with the bigger and better Superquinn shops becoming Bloomfields.

I've only ever been in there once, circa 2004. I didn't think it was that different from any big Tesco.

Alas, I doubt Roches would have survived the 2008 recession or the pandemic.

Funny how Yellow Pack was just the same as ABF's Loblaws had in Canada.

Then Premium Choice was just a rip-off of Loblaw's President's Choice, even the PC logo was the same.

Dalkey - still there 1987. Pretty sure it's what is Supervalu now. Wonder did they dispose of it after picking up some H Williams units elsewhere

Looks like Dolphins Barn was exactly where the Tesco Express is now weirdly; was closed by the early 80s.

Can't track Sundrive, if Crumlin hadn't been there too I'd assume it was the Crumlin SC one misnamed as it is at the end of Sundrive. But because it's there, I have no idea.