Lessons in Convenience Retail From an Irish Innovator

February 2023

Feature

Lessons in Convenience Retail From an Irish Innovator

How Thomas Ennis’ love of food and butchering paid dividends in building SPAR’s network in Ireland.

Thomas Ennis, an award-winning Dublin retailer, is an entrepreneur in the truest sense of the word, but it’s not a term with which he’s entirely comfortable.

“I work for myself,” he says, self-effacingly; adding: “Retail is one of the few industries where, without much education, you could succeed very well with hard work and common sense.”

I’m a great believer in pushing people to get a trade—it’s a life skill and it means you can travel the world.”