Spar store profile: The owners

Spar Ashford opened its doors to the public in March this year after two years of Covid associated delays. Now, the owners Cal Lynam and Brendan Bernes are determined to make it a success and early signs are positive for this impressive looking store, writes Fionnuala Carolan

Sparring partners

They say you shouldn’t mix business with pleasure but Brendan Bernes and Cal Lynam prove that going into business with your friend can actually work very well. The two men grew up together in Finglas, Co. Dublin and have worked alongside each other for over seven years now. Both seem to have similar drive and ambition and yet don’t seem to take themselves too seriously, which might be the secret to their success.

They both started in retail at age 16 while in school by working part-time in a local shop and then went their separate ways with Lynam taking a retail manager job and Bernes working with one of the big fuel companies.

Lynam, who is currently on the National Council of Spar Retailers, opened his first store, Spar Bolton Street back in 2007 and owns two other Spar stores - Spar Mulhuddart and Spar Riverside Mulhuddart. Bernes worked with him for years as an area manager of his stores but Spar Ashford is their first fully joint venture.

“I came in with Cal about six years ago and the aim was to get my own store,” explains Bernes. “I was looking to franchise and Cal had taken on a couple of Spar stores in Mulhuddart along with Spar Bolton Street so he offered me an area manager position over the three stores.”

Within the first year of being in that role, Bernes won the ShelfLife Small C-Store of the Year Manager in 2017 which he feels put the Mulhuddart store on the map. “There was a great team there. It [the win] was a really good thing for the community and it helped the store,” says Bernes.

According to Lynam, the ShelfLife Grocery Manager Award also put Brendan on the radar of Triode Newhill, the franchising arm of BWG. “An opportunity came up for a multi-site deal with a forecourt,” he recalls. “With Brendan being a brand-new operator and it being a multi-site deal, they asked would we go in together and operate them as a partnership and run my stores and Brendan’s new stores as one big group. So that all kicked off and started at the end of 2019 and then Covid hit. Like many businesses around the country, Covid put the brakes on all building work. It was a complete full stop for eight months.”

Covid

Their mix of neighbourhood and city centre stores was both a blessing and a curse during Covid. While business was booming in the Mulhuddart stores, things ground to a halt in the city centre. “It was chalk and cheese,” remembers Bernes. “All city centre stores were on their knees for the best part of two years so trying to manage that and retain staff was not a good situation. Then in Mulhuddart business grew by about 15/20% and you couldn’t get enough staff to run the place. We were looking at staff shortages there.”

“We moved the manager of Spar Bolton Street over to Spar Mulhuddart and Cal himself stepped into the Bolton Street store. It wasn’t a good stage in anyone’s business life but we kept the team and the place open. Spar Bolton Street is pretty much back to normal now. It was like turning the lights back on when the students came back,” he reveals.

The two men credit BWG for helping them keep the doors open in Spar Bolton Street. “I can honestly say the only reason we are still here is because of BWG,” says Bernes. “The support they have given us has been off the charts. If something goes wrong, we just make a phone call and everything gets sorted,” he says.

“There were stages when myself and Cal thought we weren’t going to get to open the Ashford store at all but once restrictions were lifted, it was all go and we were open and trading and that was thanks to BWG and Newhill in particular,” adds Bernes.

New store

After two years of false starts, finally Spar Ashford was opened on 10 March this year. This new Spar forecourt is located in the centre of the village. There had been an old fuel station on the site which had been closed for ten years so the regeneration was welcomed by the locals when the old building was demolished and a brand new facility was built in its place.

Spar Ashford is a visually appealing space designed to provide a very pleasant shopping experience With 2,700 square feet of space, Spar Ashford houses a Spar deli, an in-store bakery, an off-licence, a good grocery section and seating for 18/20 people

The shop is 2,700 square feet and houses a Spar deli, an in-store bakery, an off-licence, a good grocery section and seating for 18/20 people. It’s a really visually appealing space designed to provide a very pleasant shopping experience.

There are currently 14 staff employed and they are recruiting for more. “All the staff are local and the only outsiders are myself and Cal,” laughs Bernes. “Covid helped us in this regard as the locals were eager for the store to open and they were coming in to have a look and we introduced ourselves to them.”

While they refer to the business as a Spar store that sells fuel, they are very happy with their fuel provider Go Fuel. Trying to match and beat their competitors on the price of fuel is a daily chore. “The fuel market is very competitive,” explains Bernes. “We’re trying to keep the price below the competition but it’s difficult. Go Fuel are helping us out as we want to have the keenest prices around. The price of fuel is so volatile that I will get a delivery on a Monday and on a Thursday, and they could be completely different prices so it’s a job in itself changing fuel prices on a daily basis.”

Catering for everyone

The customer base is made up of a strong local clientele and also a lot of day trippers to the area to visit local amenities like Mount Usher Gardens and Ashford Studios and to avail of the popular cycling routes in the vicinity. “We cater for the dashboard diners, the people who are meeting for a cup of tea and a chat and those who want to pick up some groceries,” says Bernes.

They say they want the store to be a destination for day trippers and are about to implement a large seating area which can act as a local meeting spot. “We are catering for cyclists too so we have to put in bike stands so they park the bike up and come in for coffee, energy bars, salads, sandwiches and to use the toilets. We’re happy to be a meeting point for them,” he says.

There is a lot of construction ongoing in the area so there are plenty of builders coming into the store too. Being a commuter town, they are open from 6am - 10pm every day and say the minute the doors open, they have people coming in for their Insomnia coffees to have on their way to work.

Challenges

One of the main challenges they are facing is the rising cost of inflation and still trying to ensure they provide value to their customers. “If you don’t provide value you are fooling yourself,” says Bernes. “With inflation at such a high level, it’s getting harder and harder to provide value but you have to find it somewhere. If you’re not trying to give something back to the customer, then you’re going to suffer for it. Immediately when we came in, we gave deals on coffee, on our car wash and we have value ends in the shop. We are relying on BWG for that value and then on a local level with our own deli,” he explains.

Staff retention is a well-documented problem in the retail and hospitality trade at present and Bernes and Lynam are no different to anyone else. Holding on to good staff is always a priority. “There are so many people looking for work so if we don’t accommodate our staff, they’ll leave. People want training now and a work-life balance and you have to be up for giving that to your employees,” says Bernes.

Does the staff issue drive wages up, ShelfLife wonders? “We haven’t paid minimum wage in years. It’s always been higher. There is a fine balance between what you can physically afford and trying to hold on to your best people but we do our best,” explains Bernes.

“We’re very hands on myself and Cal. We know all of our employees on a first name basis and have a good relationship with them. That’s probably how we retain our guys. We didn’t let anyone go during Covid and our staff want to come in to work with us,” he says.

More expansion on the horizon

Looking to the future they are excited about expanding further and don’t seem overwhelmed at the thoughts of more stores. “We will be adding to the fold in the next few years, as many as we can. We are just replicating the same model. If your basics are right you can basically take the systems from one store and drop them into another and implement it from there as all the hard work is already done,” Bernes explains.

With the problems of Covid behind them hopefully for good this time, it looks like it’s full steam ahead for this pair of ambitious friends who seem like they are excelling at mixing business with pleasure! n