End of an era in Nenagh

Nenagh saw a local end of an era at the close of 2024 when the last supermarket owned by the O'Connor family was sold.

The Kenyon St Market is now trading as O'Riordan's Supervalu, after being acquired by Noel O'Riordan of Watergrasshill, Co Cork, who has been running the supermarket since December 4. All the staff - both full-time and part-time - will carry on working in the store with their normal hours in their normal areas of work.

The sale came after owner and manager Donal O'Connor decided to retire at 71 years of age. Kate, his wife, is delighted as she found him spending very long hours in the store. Their two sons, Joe and Danny, are busy at third level education and see a different future for themselves.

Donal had this to say: "While my whole life has centered on running the store, I am not getting any younger and I feel that it is time for me to take it a bit handier. This has been a great store to work in for the last 32 years. The staff are brilliant and we have the most genuine and loyal customers. I have to thank both staff and customers for their friendship and loyalty."

The O'Connor story

The first O'Connor store was a small sweet shop at 69/70 Kenyon St, opened and run by Joe O'Connor, Donal's dad, with Joe's brother Martin in 1947. The store was actually the front hallway of Murphys' house, a couple who encouraged the O'Connor brothers to go into business.

Soon, Martin moved to 64 Kenyon St to run a newsagency and Joe expanded into the business next door. There, he opened the first self-service store in Nenagh in 1963, with the two stores joining, and ran it as a VG store, a franchise from Musgraves.

Business was thriving and in 1965, Joe opened the Friar St supermarket, a larger store where Tipperary Friends of Animals now operate. This was run by his eldest son, Rory O'Connor. A few years later, around 1970, Joe branched out even further to establish a supermarket in Thurles.

Then in 1975, Joe opened his 'Nenagh Shopping Centre', a massive 40,000 square foot store at Martyrs Road. As well as a supermarket, the shopping centre had men's, ladies and children's clothes. Adjoining the centre was a pub that had a lively day trade and a dance hall called 'The Friary Castle'.

Joe also built the 'Castle Hyperstore', a large supermarket on Pearse St, which opened in 1984 and was managed by his son Joseph Coleman O'Connor, RIP. Also, at MacDonagh House, the 'Mini Market' convenience store was a busy, seven-day, long hours store, which was run by another son, Michael O'Connor, RIP.

O'Connors Nenagh Shopping Centre closed in 2011 after 36 years of trading; Lidl now runs a new supermarket in its place.

Local employment

It is difficult to put a number on the amount of people who worked in the O'Connor stores from when Joe and Martin established their first shop 77 years ago. A great many Nenagh families had someone who gained employment with the family, among them countless young people who got summer jobs and part-time work in the O'Connor stores.

Donal reckons that at its height, O'Connor's Nenagh Shopping Centre employed around 100 people full-time. There were 30 working at Kenyon St, another 25 at the Hyperstore and five at the Mini Market around the same time.

The longest-serving employee was Sadie Clahane, who retired in recent years after spending 50 years working at the O'Connor supermarkets. Another long-serving employee to recently retire was Lizzie Ryan.

There was a time - between the 1970s and '90s - when the meat counter at the Nenagh Shopping Centre took in seven cattle per week and 50 lambs straight from the meat factory, such was the level of customer demand.

"My family and I are very proud of my father's achievements in the retail history of Nenagh," Donal said. "He gave great employment to locals and also gave great advice and help as a member of Nenagh Urban District Council and North Tipperary County Council.

"He also gave great employment to his sons, effectively a lifetime of employment to each."

Having left the last O'Connor supermarket in the capable hands of his now former staff under the stewardship of Mr O'Riordan - an experienced supermarket manager in his native Cork - Donal looked forward to new beginnings for the store, which is to undergo an internal enhancement project in the next year or so. He took the opportunity to thank all the loyal customers and staff who worked with the O'Connors over the decades, as well as his family, saving particular mention for his late mother.

"My mother Nora managed the Kenyon St Market with me. Between raising the family and running the store, her energy was unbelievable," Donal said.

"Myself, Kate, Joe and Danny wish Noel O'Riordan and Supervalu a bright future in the store."

Donal concluded by saying that he and his family would like to publicly thank everyone who wished him well in his retirement - members of the public, staff, suppliers, customers and many more.