DUNNES STORES director Margaret Heffernan yesterday said that the company would remain independent and fully Irish-owned as she officially opened the company’s newly refurbished outlet at Patrick Street in Cork city centre.
Ms Heffernan said the company founded by her late father, Ben, would remain Irish- owned amid much speculation in recent years that international retailers such as Asda/Wal-Mart were interested in acquiring the company.
“I am confident that we will stay in Irish hands and continue to give value to the Irish people,” said Ms Heffernan as she officially opened the Patrick Street shop refurbished at an estimated cost of €30 million.
“Our aim is to keep it as a family-run company and I am confident that the next generation will be able to do that with the support and dedication and loyalty of a fantastic workforce.
“It could not be done without the fantastic support of the people who work with us,” she added.
Ms Heffernan admitted that it was a difficult time for the Irish retail sector but she recalled that when her late father opened his first store at the same site on Patrick Street in Cork on March 31st, 1944, he too faced a huge challenge.
“My father started the business in 1944 in the war years and they were very hard times.
“Now we are reopening Patrick Street in very tough times,” she said, adding that the 1950s and 1960s were also tough but the company didn’t face the same competition it does now.
“But with the support we have had from all our customers all over Ireland and above all the people who work with us, I am confident we will go from strength to strength,” said Ms Heffernan who was accompanied at the opening by her daughter, Anne, and son, Michael.
“They were different times than we have now,” she said.
“I think Ireland is going through a really, really difficult time and a tough time for lots of people . . . but we will only deserve to continue if we give the Irish public better value which is what my father founded this company on.”
The newly refurbished store, which will employ some 200 people, features 100,000sq ft of retail space with a 22,000sq ft food hall situated at basement level, with a further 78,000sq ft over three floors dedicated to fashion, homeware and a cafe.
Dan Barrett, a director of Dunnes Stores and one of the first employees of retail group, said that he was delighted to see the company’s first store open its doors to shoppers again after the two-year closure.
“The store combines a unique mixture of the modern and the historic so customers will be able to see how far Dunnes Stores has grown since 1944, and how we continue to make “better value” the focus of everything we do,” he said.