€2.5m revamp for Pettitt’s Gorey
WORKS WILL TOTALLY TRANSFORM THE GOREY STORE, CREATING AN EXTRA 30 JOBS IN THE PROCESS
PETTITT’S Supervalu have announced a major redevelopment of their Gorey branch, with the company investing €2m in a project that will totally transform the layout of the store.
Managing Director Cormac Pettitt said the plan is to ‘flip the whole shop around’. He anticipates that this will produce 30 extra jobs and bring the total staff numbers in the store to 130 people.
The work will take four months to complete and Mr Pettitt said they have no plans to close while renovations are being carried out.
The new bakery, which was phase one of the plan, was completed last May at a cost of €500,000 and created 17 fulltime jobs.
The latest announcement means the Wexford company is investing a total of €2.5m in the redevelopment of their Gorey store
Background work has already commenced on site. ‘It is a big investment but we have the market in Gorey,’ said Mr Pettitt.
‘ We plan to start works at the end of January,’ said Mr Pettitt. ‘ We endeavour to complete the job with as little disruption as possible to our customers.’
Mr Pettitt said they never felt the layout of the shop in Gorey was best for their customers.
‘As you walk in the back entrance of the new shop you will be greeted by the fruit and vegetable section and the cashiers will be moved to where the deli, butchers and fish counters are presently,’ he said.
‘ The fruit and veg part will be followed by the new bakery,’ said Mr Pettitt. ‘Beside that then will be the butchers and fish counter.’
Moving closer to the front entrance, the off-license, which currently stands there, will be replaced by the deli with the latest addition of a stone pizza oven.
‘We will for the first time offer customers freshly made authentic Italian pizzas produced using our own pizza bases from our bakery,’ said Mr Pettitt.
He said the aisles that contain all of the ‘ambient foods’ will be situated in the same place but they will change the direction in which they flow.
‘ This will be a better layout for our Gorey shop and it gives us a chance to expand our range we offer to our customers also,’ said Mr Pettitt.
The new additions to the store, once works are complete, will include a Pettitt’s Flower range made by their own Wexford florist Michelle Brady.
There will be a Pettitt’s Kitchen range made by their head chef David Berney and it will include restaurant quality meals, salads, soups and pies.
‘An expanded cheese selection will offer more than 50 different types of freshly cut cheese,’ said Mr Pettitt. He also said there will be a new range of signature sandwiches which will be introduced using the breads and rolls from their bakery.
‘We have travelled to Holland, Germany, London and Manchester to try and bring the best possible shopping experience to the people of Gorey,’ said Mr Pettitt.
Pettitt’s SuperValu in Gorey will be the flagship store in the Pettitt’s SuperValu group in terms of store design, innovation and customer offering. ‘Whatever we do here will hopefully be rolled out into our other stores,’ said Mr Pettitt.
The Pettitt group have already brought in a bakery into their Wexford town store at St Aidan’s.
‘Our staff bake the bread from scratch instore seven days a weeks,’ said Mr Pettitt. ‘ This has been a huge success and we have had great feedback from customers on how fresh and natural our bread tastes.’
Their signature sourdough has been a huge hit. It is made with natural ingredients and takes about four days to produce, but this makes it easier to digest and contains a low GI.
‘We are also producing all kinds of confectionery and our occasion cakes are proving particularly popular,’ added Mr Pettitt.
Pettitt’s SuperValu will now introduce an online shopping option which will also include a click and collect service. They will increase promotional sections to highlight their value and price cuts even more, and extend the range of health foods and free-from products.
Mr Pettitt said: ‘Most importantly we would like to thank our loyal customers in Gorey for their patience during the re-development, we hope the changes will make for a great shopping experience.
‘Aidan Doyle, Store Manager, and his team welcome any comments or feedback customers have during the development.
‘All our staff in Gorey are very excited about the project and looking forward to serving the people from our new shop.’