16 December 2016
By Tom Collins
bryan@TheCork.ie
SPAR Little Island in Cork has won the supreme award – National Convenience Store of the Year 2016 at the annual ShelfLife C-Store Awards held in Dublin recently. As well as taking the overall top honour, the Cork store picked up the Gold Award in its category, beating competition from hundreds of local convenience store entrants across Ireland.
SPAR little Island, originally opened in 2005 is owned and operated by Shane Cantillon. The store, which is located at the edge of the popular Eastgate Business Park, attracts on average 16,000 office based, retail park and residential customers per week.
Since opening, the store has undergone numerous upgrades, expansions and new innovation rollouts aimed at positioning it as a leader in modern convenience retailing standards. Today it is a 5,200 sq ft. pristine example of the best in convenience retailing, incorporating a Subway and a Flynn’s Gourmet Sausage offering in addition to an Insomnia coffee department and a Supermac’s fast food restaurant.
Receiving the award, Shane Cantillon said “We’re proud and delighted to have received this award because it provides valuable recognition from the industry experts that our business is best in class, which is a great mark of confidence for our staff and of course, our customers, and it spurs us on to keep improving all the time.”
The ShelfLife C-Store Awards, now in their 16th year, was set up to acknowledge stores and individuals that set the standards for the industry.
SPAR Little Island provides employment for 40 people locally and is open seven days a week, from 7am – 10pm.
