For the first of this month’s retailer profiles, Kathy Jensen visited Donagh and Orla McGoveran’s very stylish new Centra store on the Malone Road, opposite The Botanic Inn.

Donagh and Orla, of course, already own the hugely successful award-winning Centra on Stranmillis Road, Belfast, but their new Centra has been created in the premises of the former well-known Simpson’s Supermarket, which closed three years ago on the retirement of the owner, Alan Simpson. The property lay vacant until the lease was acquired by Donagh and Orla in May and, while they aimed to get the new business up and running as quickly as possible to start making a return on investment, the fact that they weren’t taking over a going concern allowed the couple the opportunity to take more time on the design of the new store to ensure that everything would be absolutely perfect on opening day – 18th August.

“In planning the new store, we worked very closely with Musgrave Retail Partners’ business development team to incorporate the latest Centra imagery and design concepts,” said Donagh. “For example, the new colour scheme uses a more vibrant green against a largely grey backdrop, which is extremely clean and contemporary. Other new features of the latest Centra concept include plasma screen menu systems to allow the customer to see clearly what’s on offer in our various food-to-go options, including the ‘grab and go’ Coffee Dock and Treats area, as well as the new fresh produce island – but more of that all later! We also incorporated some of our own ideas into the design, such as bespoke aisle-end units to give a special focus to certain product ranges, such as ‘Breads of the World’, ‘Piece of Cake’ and ‘Sauces of the World’.

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