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RIP Feargal Quinn

245

Comments

  • #32
    jellybear
    Registered Users Posts: 3,223 ✭✭✭jellybear


    Oh I'd forgotten about the points...my sister and I got tennis rackets with those points! I'm sure they're somewhere in the house!! We used to scour the shelves for out of date products, cheese was the most common one. If you brought it to the customer service desk they'd give you vouchers for points. Ah, those were the days!!


  • #33
    Cina
    Registered Users Posts: 2,387 ✭✭✭Cina


    He gave us the best damn sausages I'll ever eat and I'll cherish him forever for that.


  • #34
    paconnors
    Registered Users Posts: 1,635 ✭✭✭paconnors


    Never met the Man, Always seemed to be a Jolly Man

    Always enjoyed his TV Programs about saving struggling Business

    RIP Feargal


  • #35
    Amirani
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,521 Mod ✭✭✭✭Amirani


    vicwatson wrote: »
    News at one on RTE are headlining with this story:rolleyes:

    It's fairly notable news. Not sure what you're off rolling your eyes at. :rolleyes:


  • #36
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 3,656 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I just felt so sad today when I heard the news. I often saw him in Superquinn Sutton, always cheery and in good form. He was part of my growing up days. RIP


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  • #37
    salmocab
    Registered Users Posts: 11,282 ✭✭✭✭salmocab


    His shops were well run with great service, I actually complained to musgraves about something in an old superquinn a few years back and said to them ‘I’m glad Fergal Quinn is still alive because if he seen what you’ve done to his shops from the afterlife he’d be kicking the lid off his box’.
    Proper business man who knew what customer care was.


  • #38
    Spanish Eyes
    Registered Users Posts: 15,865 ✭✭✭✭Spanish Eyes


    Wonderful man, and never really sought publicity for his own sake, his business acumen and customer service philosophy did it for him.

    The Super Valu shops AFAIK are franchised out. Our local one which replaced Superquinn has gone downhill a lot. Use Aldi far more now.

    May he rest in peace.


  • #39
    jos28
    Registered Users Posts: 7,189 ✭✭✭jos28


    Sad to hear the news today. A long time shopper in Sutton, met him several times. He always treated his customers extremely well and we were made to feel welcome. He wasn't beyond getting the brush out and sweeping the floor or doing whatever was needed. He helped me pack my bags once at the checkout.

    I was in the Sutton store this afternoon and was very sad to see no mention of him anywhere. No photo, candles, book of condolences. Very disappointing, the store was never the same since Supervalu took over.


  • #40
    BarryD2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,732 ✭✭✭BarryD2


    jiltloop wrote: »
    The first negative comment on an RIP thread and it's based on.... nothing. Well done.

    No my comment was not negative, just realistic of the business world. Clearly Feargal Quinn was a decent chap and seems to have treated people as he'd like to have been treated himself.


  • #41
    Theboinkmaster
    Registered Users Posts: 3,964 ✭✭✭Theboinkmaster


    BarryD2 wrote: »
    No my comment was not negative, just realistic of the business world. Clearly Feargal Quinn was a decent chap and seems to have treated people as he'd like to have been treated himself.

    Your comment was not accurate, not relevant, negative and unwelcome in this thread.

    Obviously.


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  • #42
    .......
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,057 ✭✭✭.......


    Actually, he facilitated my marriage!!

    Met my now hubby when both of us worked together there!


  • #43
    TheValeyard
    Registered Users Posts: 12,204 ✭✭✭✭TheValeyard


    Seemed well liked and had a keen business mind. RIP.

    Fcuk Putin. Glory to Ukraine!



  • #44
    amcalester
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,121 ✭✭✭amcalester


    ....... wrote: »
    Actually, he facilitated my marriage!!

    Met my now hubby when both of us worked together there!

    Ah I wouldn’t hold that against him :)


  • #45
    neris
    Registered Users Posts: 20,036 ✭✭✭✭neris


    They have a tri colour flying at 1/2 mast at the Cross.
    jos28 wrote: »
    Sad to hear the news today. A long time shopper in Sutton, met him several times. He always treated his customers extremely well and we were made to feel welcome. He wasn't beyond getting the brush out and sweeping the floor or doing whatever was needed. He helped me pack my bags once at the checkout.

    I was in the Sutton store this afternoon and was very sad to see no mention of him anywhere. No photo, candles, book of condolences. Very disappointing, the store was never the same since Supervalu took over.


  • #46
    The_Kew_Tour
    Registered Users Posts: 34,044 ✭✭✭✭The_Kew_Tour


    He came across well. Anyone I heard of who worked for him said they were well treated and looked after


  • #47
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    tricky D wrote: »
    And was progressive in hiring intellectually disabled people - a policy which continues today, post sell-off.

    Very much this. For somebody running a private business he was way ahead of things with that. I knew some local kids in this category who got jobs in Superquinn when nobody else would dream of employing them. Now, it's widely accepted. He also ensured all signs were bilingual, and that was always refreshing. Lastly, and most enduringly, he raised the health, hygiene, shop layout, and especially home bakery standard that the other supermarket chains finally followed. It was always a treat to go to Superquinn because of these differences. Did any supermarket chain have an in-house bakery before Superquinn?


  • #48
    AMKC
    Registered Users Posts: 15,555 ✭✭✭✭AMKC
    Ms


    He was a genuine good man. I never met him but have a friend who did a few years ago when he was doing the programme about helping struggling business. He helped turn around one of them in the town I live in.

    RIP Feargal Quinn. He would have made a great Taoiseach, or President for Ireland.

    Live long and Prosper

    Peace and long life.



  • #49
    griffin100
    Registered Users Posts: 4,766 ✭✭✭griffin100


    I don’t think I’ve ever seen an RIP thread get to over 45 posts witnout someone coming in and badmouthing the deceased. That’s a reflection of the nature of the man I think.

    He came across as a genuine individual. I do like his philosophy that all you have is your good name and shafting someone to make a few pound is not worth losing it for.


  • #50
    spurious
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,107 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    I remember he rang me personally once, to follow up on a 'cranky oul' one complaint' I had written about checkouts on one of their feedback cards.

    We spoke for a good twenty minutes about all the things that made me (at the time) get a long bus journey out from where I lived to Superquinn. Very charming man. Now it's very possible he was thinking 'this will shut the oul' one up' but the man knew how to do customer service. R.I.P.


  • #51
    jos28
    Registered Users Posts: 7,189 ✭✭✭jos28


    neris wrote: »
    They have a tri colour flying at 1/2 mast at the Cross.

    Cheers, glad to hear that. I obviously missed it trying to get out of the car park. Thanks


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  • #52
    Arghus
    Registered Users Posts: 14,339 ✭✭✭✭Arghus


    He must have been as sound as he seemed to be, because I've heard nothing but positive things about him from people who worked in SuperQuinn. And praise is hard earned in that line of work!


  • #53
    ToddyDoody
    Registered Users Posts: 4,421 ✭✭✭ToddyDoody


    RIP Feargal. None of us live forever.


  • #54
    KaneToad
    Registered Users Posts: 3,160 ✭✭✭KaneToad


    A gentleman and a very clever business man. Met him numerous times in his shops. He could be packing bags or handing out samples of bread. I knew several young people who got their first job from Superquinn and most of them got a personal welcome/pep talk from the man himself.

    His public service in the Senad was above par too. I always remember him lobbying for abolishing the changing of the clocks.

    Sympathies to his family.


  • #55
    goingnowhere
    Registered Users Posts: 4,132 ✭✭✭goingnowhere


    A legend in the retail business.

    The fresh bread was always a treat, even in the horrible snow of 81 or 82 Knocklyon was still open.

    I recall the glory days in Blackrock which was the biggest store, always immaculate and a decade ahead of its time. His son Eamon was the manager and both would appear on the floor as a matter of routine.

    Crowning the customer is the guide to customer service. The service was always amazing and while prices were higher than the competition (Remember Super Crazy Prices?) Fergal had the distinction of one of the highest sales per square foot in the business. People will pay more for a better service. Constant innovation, the sausages, salad bars, loyalty program, hand held self scan.

    Fergal always looked out for the little person on the way, a rare decent honest business man. His undoing possibly as he couldn't cut the deals to get into new developments (he built Blackrock himself).

    He changed Irish life forever, introduced us to European foods, proper off licenses with proper wine, sophistication in the dark 70's and 80's.


  • #56
    highdef
    Registered Users Posts: 6,137 ✭✭✭highdef


    neris wrote: »
    They have a tri colour flying at 1/2 mast at the Cross.

    Very nice to know. Not many will see it but those who respect it will. Worked at Sutton Cross from 95 to 99. Have some snippets of video from him in store back then. A true gentleman.

    RIP.


  • #57
    road_high
    Registered Users Posts: 19,385 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    Rip Fergal Quinn- I think it was a great loss to Irish consumers that your stores became crap Super Valus and not even on the same book as the SQ food, service and experience. My local one is truly awful now and I still miss the things I could get at SQ. Talk about destroying a great brand, I’d love to know how profitable the former stores are now. Not very I’d think, local one is never very busy with just one till open half the time


  • #58
    road_high
    Registered Users Posts: 19,385 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    Spanish Eyes wrote: »
    Wonderful man, and never really sought publicity for his own sake, his business acumen and customer service philosophy did it for him.

    The Super Valu shops AFAIK are franchised out. Our local one which replaced Superquinn has gone downhill a lot. Use Aldi far more now.

    May he rest in peace.

    They’re pretty terrible, my local one is awful. All the good staff were replaced with min wages halfwits as well. Aldi Lidl streets ahead and way cheaper. Bizarrely Dunnes have taken on a lot of the “posh” stuff SQ used to do. Musgraves seem to want to self destruct the business


  • #59
    ChikiChiki
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,950 ✭✭✭ChikiChiki


    Seems Ireland has lost someone remarkable today.

    By my mother's account from when she worked in Superquinn he was an absolute gent. She is quite upset. Said he didn't do titles or have any grand notions of being above everyone , just wanted to be known by his first name and help everyone.

    RIP Feargal.


  • #60
    SirChenjin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,111 ✭✭✭SirChenjin


    He had a passion for delivering customer service that was above and beyond the ordinary. I used to love Superquinn.

    Never met the man personally, but really enjoying the personal memories that people are sharing here. He always came across well in public, including on the programme that he did for RTE.

    A life well lived. May he rest in peace.


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  • #61
    Pappacharlie
    Registered Users Posts: 197 ✭✭Pappacharlie


    I worked in An Post at the time it went Semi-state. Fergal Quinn was the chairman of the board at that time. He was like a breath of fresh air in the organiation and he did oversee real change. On the day of the incorporation he came up with the 1p post where it cost 1p to post a letter. Met him once when he was head of the organisation and I a mere minion! He had that rare quality when he engaged with you that no one else mattered. A true gentleman and a genius. May he rest in peace.


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