Under the tree since ’63 with SPAR

We’re celebrating our 60TH birthday

Thanks For All All The Messages

As SPAR celebrates its seminal 60th anniversary serving towns, cities and communities throughout Ireland, we are proud of the rich heritage our independent retailers have fostered over those six decades of service. The remarkable story of SPAR in Ireland started with the opening of SPAR Artane in 1963 and has grown exponentially to become a truly ubiquitous presence on the Irish landscape.

Since that introduction to the Irish consumer, SPAR has worked tirelessly and earned a well-deserved reputation for innovation, as well as for exceptional customer-choice, magnificent customer-service and is a well-recognised and loved brand that has been the face of many family businesses right around the country. SPAR has grown into the household name for convenience shopping in Ireland over the last 60 years and is synonymous with the convenience sector here in Ireland and, of course, internationally. The ethos and values that underpin our success and footprint across

Ireland, and the other 47 countries where SPAR has a presence, have sustained us through the decades and will continue to sustain us into the future

Lifeblood of communities

SPAR retailers are the lifeblood for many of the communities in which they are embedded, and, in turn, SPAR has always been committed to providing our retailers – and by definition their customers and those aforementioned communities – with the very best in convenience retailing. In essence, setting standards and driving innovation are pillars of the SPAR offering, which is why from a customer perspective, SPAR is a recognised leader in Retail Foodservice within the market This well-earned reputation is driven by a rich heritage in food and beverage innovation built up over many years. Through a dedicated Food Innovation team, SPAR takes great pride in being innovators and trendsetters when it comestoRetailFoodservice,whichis particularlyevident in SPAR’s fresh food offering.

We pioneered foodservice in the convenience sector; we were the first to introduce the multi-service offering through the introduction of premium coffee-to-go to our stores

We were the first to create our own sub brands, which established a unique point of differentiation for our food-to-go offerings This remains a constant focus of ours and, in support of this, we have a dedicated food and beverage innovation team who deliver the latest trends to our network with truly unique concepts that appeal to consumers. Crucially, we are brave and take a very entrepreneurial approach to innovation and aren’t afraid to try new things We’re also fortunate to be able to tap into the expertise of our partners across SPAR International, meaning we’re in a unique position to identify emerging trends and preserve our first-to-market focus, which is complemented by our extensive SPAR Own Brand range.

Looking ahead with confidence

This celebratory milestone is, of course, a year to reflect on all that has been achieved but, more importantly, it is a time to look forward with confidence, hope and ambition as the future for SPAR is as effervescent today as it was when the doors were opened on those very first SPAR stores in 1963.

The basis of our celebrations this year is our continuing commitment to excellence We are rooted in it and all SPAR retailers share that same ethos and, crucially, ambition for expansion and growth within the industry. We are always, together, striving to provide value-added for our customers. In celebrating SPAR’s 60th anniversary, we are engaged in a heavy weight plan of activity across multimedia platforms, in-store activations and consumer engagement throughout the year

Ambition

Our ambition is very clearly evident in who we work with For example, SPAR recently partnered with renowned Irish actor Colm Meaney to deliver a powerful radio advert, rooted in storytelling and chronicling the journey of Irish society over the past 60 years while demonstrating how SPAR has been at the forefront of the most monumental changes in Irish society during that time Another noteworthy initiative to celebrate this important anniversary includes our investment of €60,000 back into local communities through the SPAR 60th Community Fund, which will see six local community clubs, groups or programmes awarded €10,000 each, along with the chance to meet Olympic Champion Kellie Harrington and take her on in a fun series of challenges in July

Further campaigns are planned throughout the year to mark the anniversary, which includes our new CSR initiative with the Tree Council of Ireland. This builds on an existing relationship between the two entities having evolved from SPAR’s sponsorship over the past two years of SPAR National Tree Day, an initiative to encourage primary school children nationwide to plant trees on a specified day each October. Donations from the sale of selected SPAR Range products, from the beginning of May until the end of October, will be awarded to the Tree Council to fund the planting of 20,000 native Irish trees. The trees will be planted on six sites across the country with plans to invite SPAR retailers to the tree planting events for a family day out during the summer months.

Furthermore, in pursuit of our environmental ambitions, SPAR has also recently introduced two fully compostable SPAR branded bags to our business. These bags will replace the current SPAR Bag for Life, showing our commitment to the environment by removing plastic bags from all our stores. The bags bear a specially commissioned SPAR 60th Anniversary logo and complement a full suite of paperware available in SPAR stores from deli wrap to foil bags and more.

Together with our SPAR retailers, we will meet that future with confidence.Together, we will continue to work tirelessly to provide consumers with the most innovative award winning in-store offering and shopping experience they could wish for.

The last 60 years have been a wonderful precursor to what promises to be a truly exciting future for SPAR in Ireland as we continue to grow, evolve and, along with our wonderful independent retailers, serve the people of Ireland.