Nearby in Newtownforbes Fionnuala Carolan spoke

Retailers Niall and Catherine Smith believe it’s important that customers see them in the store and that they provide the personal touch for shoppers

Nearby Newtownforbes, Co. Longford is run by husband-and-wife duo Niall and Catherine Smith. Here, Niall speaks to Fionnuala Carolan about life as a retailer in rural Ireland and why they decided to join S&W Wholesale

Nearby in Newtownforbes

Newtownforbes is a village with just 400 inhabitants, four kilometres from Longford town. Smith’s store has been a stalwart of this little village for more than two decades; a particularly impressive feat at a time when businesses in small villages are few and far between. The Smith’s store was previously partnered with other symbol group brands until last year when they joined S&W’s Nearby brand.

Niall Smith and his wife Catherine met while working in SuperValu in Longford town back in the late 80s and were there for 13 years before starting out in Newtownforbes in 1999. Smith says that his days in SuperValu armed him with great experience and enabled him to go out on his own. “It was a busy supermarket with 70/80 staff, and I was in goods inwards so every order that was placed or delivered had to go through me,” he explains. “I was there when the very fi rst chilled distribution started so it was a steep learning curve when they started out on that journey.”

The move to the current shop came about in 1999 when a friend approached him about leasing it. The Smiths had wanted their own business and this was a good opportunity to dip their toes in. “We rented it for three years and then bought it and we never looked back,” he says. “We’re here 22 years now. Myself and Catherine work full-time and we have four full-time and four part-time staff. All our staff members are with us a long time and are part of the family.”

When they bought the shop in 2003 they built on a new extension at the back which doubled the size of the store and had the desired effect of increased sales. “Our business went up by 20% straightaway as the original shop was only 700sq ft so we were able to stock a better range of wines and started the in-store bakery at that stage,” he says. “It was a good move for the longevity of the business.”

STORE PROFILE Retailers: Niall and Catherine Smith Address: Smith’s Nearby, Main Street, Townparks, Newtownforbes, Co. Longford Sta : Four full-time and four part-time sta Size: 1,500sq Opening hours: Monday – Saturday: 7.30am – 8pm: Sunday: 8am – 8pm

Changing to Nearby

After a long time with the same group, Smith details why they made the change to Nearby. “Even though we were with a competitor previously, we would have bought stock from S&W who had some keen prices across their range. When they launched the new Nearby brand this time last year, they approached us and asked if we were interested so we looked at the pros and cons and we decided to make the change.

“It was a big decision as we were 20-odd years with the previous group but S&W could offer us a similar package, with ambient and chilled twice a week and central billing, BDMs [business development managers] on the road, full marketing support; yet with no franchise fee so to us who are so long in business and had a lot of experience, it was worth a shot,” explains Smith.

He outlines how a typical franchise fee can be anything from €500 a month upwards and it’s a lot for a small family-run business in a

“Retail is a hard life, you have to love it. You are on call 24/7. You don’t get into retail to make money. The margins are tight whether you are a SuperValu or a small store like us. You need to be there so your customers can see you and there is the personal touch. We’ve settled into the new shop and people have come in to see the changes and we’ve had good feedback. Going forward we have to still work as hard as ever but we feel happy that we have made the change to Nearby.”

With strong value offers available, Smith says people come into the shop to find the offers they have seen on social media Smith’s Nearby benefits from the location of the secondary school bus stop, resulting in pupils gathering outside the shop going and coming from school

small rural village. “It’s at least €6,000 a year before you start. Both of us were 30-odd years in retail and we felt why would we hand out €6k for something we do ourselves anyway. It was risky because it was a change of image but so far so good. It’s working for us.”

Marketing

Smith credits S&W especially for its marketing support. “We have our own social media for the store and S&W link into that and push through offers on all the occasions like Mothers’ Day, St Patrick’s Day etc. Point of sale in the shop helps a certain amount but really, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram is where it’s at. People come in to find the offers they have seen on social media. Sometimes it’s hard to quantify if something has worked or not but I think it’s more positive than negative. You don’t want to flood people with nonsense or to see Smith’s Nearby coming up four times a day with offers. It needs to be fairly well managed and not overkill.”

He says that S&W’S Nearby team especially Jason McSteen and Stephen Vincent are really easy to deal with and are not always “looking for money” for every little thing. The simplicity of the model seems to work very well for smaller retailers who want to focus on getting the basics right.

Convenience and mini mart

The 1,500sq ft store has a fresh in-store bakery, a deli, an off-licence and it sells solid fuel and the National Lottery. Smith describes it as a mix of convenience store and mini mart. Despite no secondary schools in the village, they do benefit from the location of the bus stop bringing children to St Mel’s and the Gaelscoil in Longford and schools in Ballymahon which means that all the pupils gather outside the shop going and coming from school. In the early years of the business there was a secondary school in the village and there were lots of developments during the boom which resulted in a good lunch trade from the builders. “It took a bit of time to adjust when that business dried up,” says Smith. “You have to try to make the shop more appealing so that people want to come back more for regular shops when we are not relying on the deli trade like we used to.”

Situated on the M4, they enjoy a lot of passing trade but would rely on their local customers to keep the business afloat.

Dedication

Probably the reason that the shop has done so well is that Smith is very dedicated and only takes time off when he needs it. “I’m here every day but I’ll work different hours,” he says. “I might start early and finish early. In the beginning, I would have done 12-hour days but not now, but I do love my job and I was saying to Catherine that I never mind getting up in the morning and going to work. Whatever time the clock goes off, I’m happy to be going to the store. I take time off when I need it to do things with the children but I don’t just take days off to do nothing. I’m just not that type.” Smith says that they pride themselves on service and that has always been their number one strategy.

Impact of Covid

Covid saw a boost for the shop as people couldn’t travel more than two kilometres from home and Longford town, where all the big retailers are situated. “The first lockdown of three or four months was really good for business and overall Covid would have helped us,” explains Smith. “It had us stressed as well with staff as they were anxious and two of our staff went off due to family members having underlying health issues so we were short staffed and that put us under pressure as we didn’t know if others were going to do the same. My own son and daughter who were in college and Leaving Cert at the time took on a lot of work as they were at home with us. It suited them and suited me. They were studying online so they were happy to take any hours that were going.” His son Dylan (22) studied business in college and now works in recruitment and his daughter Shauna (19) is studying veterinary in the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin.

He presumes neither Dylan nor Shauna will take over the business because he admits that it is a hard lifestyle and you need to be passionate about it.

“Retail is a hard life,” he says. “You have to love it. You are on call 24/7. You don’t get into retail to make money. The margins are tight whether you are a SuperValu or a small store like us. You need to be there so your customers can see you and there is the personal touch. We’ve settled into the new shop and people have come in to see the changes and we’ve had good feedback. Going forward we have to still work as hard as ever but we feel happy that we have made the change to Nearby and very much look forward to the future.” n