Northern Ireland family-run convenience store celebrates 89 years of great community service

A Northern Ireland family have been reflecting on their 89 years of serving the local community.

The Wright family opened their first store in 1935, trading as Wright’s Service Station until 2009 when they began trading with Henderson Group, under their brand and Wright’s Spar in Portadown was born.

In 2009 the store had just 10 employees and now, 38 people from the local community work in the store, dedicated to serving their neighbours.

“We added an extension in 2016, which allowed us to create even more local jobs,” explained Andrew Wright.

“It also meant we could bring even more products to our shoppers’ doorsteps, from fresh and locally sourced produce, to prepared or pre-prepped products for tonight’s tea, as well as all the store cupboard essentials.”

The Wright family has invested £400,000 in the past 15 years.

A true family affair, the team are dedicated to the local organisations and charities that are important to their shoppers and staff, and have raised over £10,000 for Marie Curie, Guide Dogs for the Blind and Samaritans, to name a few.

Andrew continued: “If I were to think about one of our most challenging but rewarding times in business, it would be throughout the pandemic and those first lockdowns. Everything changed overnight but we were committed to serving our shoppers, looking out for our neighbors and making sure everyone had what they needed.

“It actually brought the community closer together and we were at the heart of that. We pride ourselves on our great customer service, the personal touch to all of our transactions whether that be at the checkouts or a friendly ‘hello’ in-store, while our selection of fresh and local meats, produce and products are stand out in the area.”

To celebrate with their shoppers, Wright’s Spar ran a shopper appreciation week, from September 23 to 29, and also held a shopper appreciation day on Saturday, September 28 with many special offers and competitions for their shoppers to avail of with 15 bespoke deals to celebrate 15 years serving their community as a Spar store. The store also continues to run the annual 12 Deals of Christmas campaign which slashes the prices of high demand products in the run up to Christmas.

Andrew explained: “We loved seeing all of our shoppers on the day, and celebrating alongside them as without our loyal shoppers, we wouldn’t have our family business, so we wanted to make this a celebration for their loyalty too.”

Patrick Doody, sales and marketing director at Henderson Group, which owns the Spar franchise in Northern Ireland added: “We all send our congratulations to the Wrights on this business milestone. They have grown an award-winning and engaging business 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.”