| Paddy and Bridie Ward broke the
first sod on this site in 1970. P & B Ward Ltd consisted
of a 540 sq. ft. shop and three petrol pumps.
The business was purchased in 1988 by Paddy and Bridie's
son-in-law and daughter, Michael and Brigid Quinn. The name
was then changed to Cloughvalley Stores.
There has been a number of developments on the site since
then, the biggest in 1992, 14 years ago. Michael and Brigid
recognised the need to expand the business to fulfill the
increased requirements of the local community and in November
1992 the redeveloped Cloughvalley Stores was opened. At the
time interest rates were 18%.
The Off-Licence was added on in 1994 and an extension
to the Coffee Shop/Take Away was built in 1995. The
Haulage Company also commenced in 1995. The Hire
Centre was brought on line in 1996 and the Agri Business
was transferred to a new premises on the Shercock Road in
1997.
There have been many changes in the town of Carrickmacross
and in the economy of Ireland since that time. You only have
to look at an old local phone book to see changes in the businesses
in the area. We estimate that 65 business premises have either
closed or changed hands in the last 10 years.
More recently the by pass was another major event for Carrickmacross
which was needed for the future development of the town. It
shows that everything is evolving and changing all the time
and in business you have to change with it and try to give
you the customer what they want. This is what we are striving
to achieve in our new store.
Our most recent development took place from 2006 - 2007.
The construction of our new store - Londis Plus, was
not easy as we were trying to carry on an existing business.
However it was made somewhat easier as we were working with
a builder were nothing was a problem. We want to pay tribute
here to Eric and Roy Jenkins, Keady, Co Armagh and their team
for making this construction work easier than we thought.
We must not forget the design team - J L O'Hagan, Architects
Newry, Michael Farrelly and Ass, Quantity Surveyors, Newry,
Lohan and Donnelly, Structural Engineers, Dublin, Taylor and
Fegan, Mechanical and Electrical Consultants, Belfast, and
Paul Martin Electrical, Carrickmacross.
In the middle of all of this we cannot forget about our neighbours
who put up with a lot of noise and disruption throughout the
building work and we thank them for their patience.
Trading from the portacabin was a challenge at the best of
times but it would not have been made possible without the
co operation of our existing staff members and we would like
to thank them for their loyalty in sticking with us especially
during the hot summer months.
Finally through all of the construction work you the customer
have remained loyal to us when at times we would not have
had as much to offer as we would have liked. Now that we are
in our new store we would like to welcome you and assure you
of a complete shopping experience. We will let the store speak
for itself when you visit us.
There is still some site work not completed so we would ask
you to take care.
Once again thank you from all of us at Cloughvalley Stores,
Cloughvalley Hire Nationwide and Super Valu, Crossmaglen.
The photographs on the right show some of the construction
process that brought us to where we are today.
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