Centra

For other uses, see Centra (disambiguation).
Centra
Franchise
Industry Retail
Headquarters Cork, Ireland
Number of locations
 541
Area served
 Ireland
Owner Musgrave Group
Website Centra

Centra is a convenience store chain which operates throughout the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The chain is run by Musgrave, the Irish food wholesaler, but the stores are all owned by individual franchisees. The chain has three different formats available to franchisees — smaller Quick Stop outlets, mid-sized Foodmarkets, and larger Supermarkets. The majority of the stores however follow the Quick Stop format (or are simply branded Centra), as Musgrave also offers the SuperValu format, which is geared towards larger supermarkets. There are currently around 458 Centra stores in the Republic of Ireland and 120 in Northern Ireland. In 2002, Centra's turnover was €652.6 million. Centra's main competitors are Gala, Spar and Londis, as well as a number of smaller groups such as Costcutter.

History

The chain was originally launched in the Republic of Ireland as "VG" in 1960. In 1979, the VG chain was rebranded SuperValu with the smaller outlets subsequently rebranded as Centra. The company brought both of these stores to Northern Ireland, the latter through the acquisition and subsequent rebranding of Wellworths stores.

Ahead of Ireland's 2015 same-sex marriage referendum, copies of Hot Press featuring a homosexual kiss on its cover were found at Centra with the kiss covered by price labels. Centra launched an investigation.[1]

From Top left to right: Stranmills Road, Belfast; Centra, Great Victoria Street, Belfast; Parnell Street Dublin; "Quick Stop" Centra, Belfast; Centra, Newcastle, County Down; Star petrol station and Centra, Ballymagorry, County Tyrone; Centra, Antrim, County Antrim.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Duffy, Nick (15 May 2015). "Supermarket 'investigating' after magazine's gay kiss covered with price labels". Archived from the original on 15 May 2015.
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