Brothers clock up a staggering 70 years of 'community service' at their Northern Ireland retail stores

Northern Ireland retailers Crawford and Richard Henderson are celebrating milestone anniversaries of two of their popular convenience stores.

SPAR Tobermore, which Richard has owned since 1983 and SPAR Milltown Road, which the brothers have owned since 1993.

The brothers run eight SPAR stores between them, across Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Celebrating 40 years in business, SPAR Tobermore has undergone multiple refurbishments, relocations and expansions over the years, tripling its employee numbers from six in 1983, to 18 today.

In 2000 the store relocated to a brand new and bigger site, where it stands today, bringing additional and much-needed services to the local community.

Crawford and Richard took over the Milltown Road store in 1993 with just six employees and thanks to two major refurbishments over the years, the team has now grown to over 50 from the local community and is celebrating 30 years in business.

Crawford and Richard have invested significantly to provide the best quality products to shoppers, undertaking two significant refurbishments; the first in 2005 then more recently with an investment of over £1.7 million in April 2022, bringing improved services and an impressive offering to the local area.

Being at the heart of the community, it has always been important to Crawford and Richard to show their support to local initiatives and community groups at all of their stores across the country.

The Milltown Road store sponsors the annual North West 200 and their local Ballymoney youth football team. The team at the store has also held multiple fundraising activities over the years, raising money for local schools across Ballymoney.

SPAR Tobermore also shows support to local sports teams including Tobermore Football Club and Rainey Endowed Rugby Club.

The Henderson brothers also recently, along with their shoppers, fundraised for the installation of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) outside SPAR Milltown Road, making potentially lifesaving equipment available 24/7 in the local area.

Ensuring children have a safe space to play and learn is important to the Hendersons, and in 2021, SPAR Tobermore participated in fundraising towards the opening of the local playgroup, ToberTinys Community Playgroup, and have recently provided funds to allow Tobermore Primary School develop a brand-new computer suite.

Crawford said: “We love that all our stores have become a hub for the local community, providing everyday essentials and supporting local initiatives. We will continue to expand and develop our businesses to meet the changing needs of our shoppers.”

Richard added: “We are determined to provide everyday value, and a choice of locally sourced products so we can also support the local farming community, and those suppliers in our area. As part of the SPAR NI network, we can bring initiatives such as Mega Deals and 12 Deals of Christmas to our shoppers for year round value, while also providing better choices such as the range of Healthy Choices ready meals from Apperley’s Butchers in Ballymoney.

“It has been a privilege to serve both communities over the years and we’re looking forward to many more. We want to thank our great teams and loyal customers for all their support over the years.”