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Brogan's new venture in textiles
Dunnes is a supermarket and clothing retail chain based in the Republic of Ireland.
The chain primarily sells food, clothes and household wares. In addition to its main customer base in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, the chain has operations in Great Britain and Spain. The format of the chain's stores is with a grocery supermarket operating alongside a clothing/textiles store. However some stores contain only textiles, while some (more rarely) contain only a supermarket. The company is famous for its St. Bernard label. This has declined in usage in recent years however, with "St. Bernard" largely being displaced by "Dunnes Stores" on drapery products.
The chain was founded in 1944 in Cork by Ben Dunne, Snr, as a clothing retailer. The food side of the business began in the 1960s. The company opened the first Irish out-of-town shopping centre at Cornelscourt, Co. Dublin, in 1966. On 12 July 2007 the company opened a new flagship textiles-only store in Henry Street, Dublin. This store is branded simply as "Dunnes" on external signage rather than "Dunnes Stores".
The company is not publicly listed - instead it is controlled by a family-owned trust. It is not even a private limited company by shares, hence it does not have to file accounts, but does not have limited liability either. Ben Dunne (junior) was, for a long time, in a senior position until a 1992 scandal involving drugs and prostitutes, which led to an internal feud which forced his withdrawal. Today two of his siblings, Frank Dunne and Margaret Heffernan, are in charge of the company.
The Dunne Family, who own the company are amongst the richest people in the island of Ireland. Margaret Heffernan, for example, is Ireland's second richest woman with assets of €603 million according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2006.
Scaffolding | Retail | Dunnes | |
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