50 years of supermarket shopping in Dingle

DINGLE’S first supermarket opened 50 years ago this Friday when Garvey’s “old established grocery and drapery shop in Strand Street” recognised that times were changing and “converted to supermarket trading”.

A feature in The Kerryman of Saturday, May 13, 1967, relates how the Garvey firm was founded in 1929 when Jim Garvey from Baile Iochtarach “came to town and established a grocery and drapery store. The firm quickly expanded under his management and hard work.”

The article notes that Jim Garvey, who died in 1966, had “a great interest in land and cattle, never missing a fair.” He was also “an ardent supporter of the GAA” –a trait that clearly continues to run through the family to this day.

Following Jim’s death, his son, Tomás, took on the job of managing the business along with his mother Catherine and, recognising the trend towards ‘self-service’ and ‘one-stop shopping’, he converted the family shop into a 1,300 supermarket, which was painted mimosa yellow and geranium red with ice blue tiles in the meat department where, The Kerryman noted, “meat will be kept under refrigeration at all times”.

The supermarket was notable for having an extensive jam section, a wider selection of confectionary than Dingle was accustomed to and a whole range of tinned fruit and vegetables. In the cheese section the brands included Farmer’s Wife, Kraft, Mitchelstown and Golden Vale – it was a wide selection at a time when we hadn’t yet developed the rather more discerning taste for cheese that we have these days.

The meat department was run by Tom Lynch from Ballinassig (RIP) who came with a wealth of experience, having worked with the First National Supermarket Chain in the USA.

Having spotted the opening in the market before anybody else, Tomás Garvey and his family have continued to thrive in the supermarket business. They now have a chain of nine supermarkets across Munster and last year they carried out a major refurbishment of their current SuperValu store in Holy Ground – just across the road from the original supermarket which is now Garvey’s Sports and Leisure shop.

It’s a success story that Tomás Garvey might not have imagined back in 1967 but speaking to The Kerryman this week he said ambition was never the driving force. “I suppose having nine supermarkets could be taken as a measure of success… but it’s really about trying to do something fresh all the time and then things just grow from that.”

Tomás Garvey and his son Jim, who are chairman and financial director, respectively, of Garvey Group outside the sports shop in Strand Street that was the site of Dingle’s first supermarket in 1967.