Northern Ireland couple celebrate 15-years of success after converting Antrim store from Mace to Spar

Husband and wife duo Charles and Rhonda Henderson, owners of Spar Parkhall, are celebrating 15 years serving their community.

The store opened in 2005 trading as Mace Parkhall until 2009 when they began trading with Henderson Group, under the Spar brand. Upon opening, the store had just 12 employees which has since doubled to 24 people from the local community working in the store.

Over the years, Charles and Rhonda have made major investments into the Spar Parkhall store totalling £290,000, completing five significant refurbishments to bring the highest quality products and services to their shoppers, as Charles explained: “We’ve invested significantly over the years to make five major refurbishments which have transformed our store to bring even more products to shoppers’ doorsteps, including an extended range of fresh and locally sourced produce.”

READ THIS: Strong financial footing for Northern Ireland’s fastest growing tech firm as it eyes expansion

Being a hub for their local community, the team are dedicated to the local organisations and charities that are close to the hearts of their staff and shoppers and have raised over £25,000 for Marie Curie.

Charles added: “Our team have worked hard over the years to create a community focussed store and fundraising for Marie Curie, a charity close to our hearts, has been at the forefront with numerous in-store events and initiatives over the last 15 years to raise an incredible amount for the charity.

“We want to thank our loyal shoppers, without whom, we wouldn’t have had the success our family business has had over the past 15 years as a Spar store. Our Post Office is also a central point of our store, for which we were awarded Best Rural Post Office at the Post Office Awards back in 2012. I want to thank our Post Office staff who always go the extra mile for our shoppers.

“We love serving our neighbours, seeing friendly faces every day and knowing we are a hub in our local community which has always been very important to us.

“We wish to extend a huge thank you to our shoppers for their support since we opened back in 2005. We are committed to serving our community and we look forward to many more successful years at Spar Parkhall.”

READ THIS: Pictures: NI’s newest five-star hotel enlists Belfast design agency

Patrick Doody, sales and marketing director at Henderson Group, which owns the Spar franchise in Northern Ireland, added: “We all send our congratulations to Charles, Rhonda and the whole team on this business milestone. They have grown a store that sits at the core of their community, providing everyday essentials and a hub for the local area and we wish them every success for many more years to come.”