Following on from a year of rigorous inspections that included mystery shopper visits and audits, twelve North Cork Spar and Spar Express stores have come away from the 16th annual 5 Star awards ceremony with top accolades.
These awards represent one of Spar’s highest honours in retail and the awards ceremony, which was held in Killashee House in Co Kildare were attended by retailers from around the country.
Burns and Owens’ Spar, Rathcormac; Shinnick’s Spar in Fermoy and Roche’s Spar in Mitchelstown were all in receipt of awards on the day, while the Rathcormac and Fermoy stores were also recognised for having won the 5 star awards for five years in a row.
Ray Burns and Stephen Owens of Spar, Rathcormac, have received the award for the sixth time and they thanked their customers for the continued support, adding that they will strive to keep the standards and services as high as possible.
Likewise, Shinnick’s in Fermoy have received the award for the sixth year in a row and Brian Shinnick said that it was a real team effort, as everyone had their part to play.
He said that they were delighted to receive the award, as it is something that they work hard at every year and for the customers, it is important that they know how high standards are, as they are assessed independently a number of times throughout the year.
“I’m delighted to see so many North Cork stores achieve the mark this year and get the recognition they deserve.”
Willie Kenneally of Roche’s Spar in Mitchelstown explained that they had to be on their toes all year round keeping standards up across the different areas, as well as focusing on customer services, stressing that the friendly personalities and hard work of the staff is ‘very important’.
Spar sales director, Colin Donnelly said that to many people, Spar and Spar Express stores are an essential pillar of the local community.
“I’m delighted to see so many North Cork stores achieve the mark this year and get the recognition they deserve,” he said.
