Quinnsworth
| Industry | Retail (various) |
|---|---|
| Successor(s) | Tesco Ireland |
| Founded | 1966 |
| Defunct | 2001 |
Quinnsworth was a supermarket company in Ireland, that was founded by entrepreneur Pat Quinn.
History
Quinnsworth was founded by Pat Quinn in 1966 and was sold to Powers Supermarkets Limited in the 1970s. During the 1970s, the slogan used was "Let's get it all together at Quinnsworth". Powers Supermarkets Limited was the parent company, but used Quinnsworth as its marketing name. The company was unrelated to rival supermarket chain Superquinn.
Quinnsworth became a wholly owned subsidiary of Associated British Foods plc., a company controlled by the Weston family, and was run by supermarket executive Don Tidey. In its final years, the company's use of Yellow Pack own-brand labeling was replaced by Premium Choice. Premium Choice was inspired by the President's Choice own-label in Loblaw, the Weston's Canadaian supermarket chain.[1] Quinnsworth advertising campaigns featured its marketing director Maurice Pratt (who later became chief executive of Tesco Ireland), who would personally introduce new product promotions, ending each advert with the company slogan, "That's Real Value".
Crazy Prices
Crazy Prices (occasionally Super Crazy Prices) was a supermarket chain owned by Quinnsworth. Crazy Prices was well known for their cheap prices and was one of the first retailers in the Republic of Ireland to introduce late night opening (until 9pm) on Wednesdays, dubbing this night "Crazy Night" and running special in-store promotions. Crazy Prices was also noted for concentration on price reductions at the expense of presentation, including the Yellow Pack brand and presenting goods to shoppers still in warehouse packaging.
Tesco Ireland
In May 1997, Tesco acquired the retailing and supply chain operations of Associated British Foods – with the sole exception of Primark (Penneys) – for £643 million. In 1997, "Powers Supermarkets Limited" (trading as Quinnsworth) changed its name to "Tesco Ireland Limited".
The first signs of the new regime was the almost immediate introduction of the Tesco own-brand, with the completion of the phasing out of own-brands KVI, Premium Choice and Yellow Pack.
Over the next few years, Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices supermarkets were rebranded as Tesco Ireland. The first store to open under the Tesco Ireland name was in Athlone in 1997. The changeover was at first relatively slow, with the Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices name continuing to appear on adverts for some time after the launch of the new company identity. Tesco's initial policy was not to change the name over the door until the store had been upgraded to Tesco's standards. In some older stores this meant a significant rebuild of the premises. The first fully rebuilt store opened in Maynooth in 2000.
In 2001, the last Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices stores were rebranded as Tesco Ireland.
References
See also
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