New community stores bring unrivalled shopping experience to Cullybackey Home News Works have now completed on the new SPAR Bridge and EUROSPAR Cullybackey, with the two stores complementing each other to bring an entirely new shopping experience to the village. SPAR Bridge, which opened its doors to the community in August, celebrated its official opening at the weekend, alongside EUROSPAR Cullybackey, just a couple of hundred meters down the road, after its recent refurbishments in store. Both stores are owned and operated by Henderson Retail. The popular Post Office officially moved from the EUROSPAR to SPAR in August, and the supermarket, which resides in one of the most striking listed buildings in the area, now has an enhanced range of fresh food all sourced from local suppliers. Mark McCammond, Retail Director at Henderson Group commented; “EUROSPAR and SPAR are two brands which bring everything a community could need for their shopping and daily needs. “SPAR Bridge is an exciting new store for the village, offering an enticing range of food-to-go available throughout the day. It is a smaller format store which offers hot drinks from the Barista Bar machine such as coffee, including the ever popular flat-white, plus tea, and hot chocolate. Complementing the hot drinks offering is the hot food for now from the dailyDeli counter, and a range of fresh treats and breads from SPAR Bakery. “The proposition here means that those who need something now can get it quickly and conveniently from this new store.” Upon opening, the store provided local employment for 14 further roles, with 18 in total now working at SPAR Bridge. The upgraded five-pump MAXOL forecourt remains on site, continuing to cater for trade passing through the village and those quick stop-offs for locals. However, the car-parking provision has been dramatically enhanced and now provides up to 30 parking spaces across the site for customer convenience. Keeping the community spirit, SPAR Bridge will work with EUROSPAR Cullybackey to support groups, organisations and local suppliers in their area. At the newly renovated EUROSPAR Cullybackey, the focus is on providing an enhanced supermarket shopping experience in the heart of the community. The internal refurbishment brings a more efficient use of the space, allowing for the introduction of hundreds of new products, including locally sourced meat and produce, alongside the store’s own-brand range of fresh, homemade meals – Maine Kitchen. Mark continued; “EUROSPAR Cullybackey is making a very strong statement with its support for local products and suppliers. There are many farmers and suppliers within a 30 mile radius that the store is working with to deliver a fresh foods experience to rival any supermarket in Ballymena – complete with ample parking on site.” Residents at ‘the home of local’ include Cullybackey’s own The Maine Bakery, which will produce bread that has been locally baked by two generations of bakers for over 55 years, while Ferguson Butchers, the family butchery that has been providing quality cuts to Cullybackey shoppers since 1890, now has an extended range of products and deals. McCurdy’s continue to supply the store’s spuds, straight from their land at Whitepark Bay Farm and The Maine Kitchen will produce freshly prepared meals for later from its well-loved deli offering. Complementing the food to-go offering is a new rotisserie chicken option, which joins the array of choices from the delicatessen and hot food counters in-store. Shoppers at EUROSPAR Cullybackey can also expect a new locally sourced and handmade range in The CHEF, freshly prepared by our team of cooks in Randalstown, with ingredients from local suppliers, making up comforting favourites from lasagne to chicken and broccoli bake – both of which are Great Taste Award winning. Mark finished; “The EUROSPAR is dedicated to reducing food miles from farm to store to plate, as well as providing unparalleled value and deals, especially with Tesco Price Match which matches over a thousand big branded products’ prices to Tesco.” To celebrate the new stores, SPAR Bridge and EUROSPAR Cullybackey are offering their shoppers the chance to win a year’s supply of Shloer right up until the end of the month. EUROSPAR Cullybackey once again became the top selling Shloer store in Northern Ireland last week, during the 12 Deals of Christmas promotion, which saw bottles drop to less than half price. SPAR Bridge joined the fun this year with multiple bottles of the festive fizz being picked up every hour. EUROSPAR Cullybackey has been the top of the pops since the initiative began in 2015, and staff celebrated in their usual sparkly way throughout the week. Store Manager, Rea Turner, added; “Cullybackey is famed for our love of Shloer, so on our opening day, the first 30 shoppers through our door all received a goodie bag including a bottle of Shloer, plus one lucky shopper received a luxury Shloer hamper. We have our year’s supply of Shloer on our most recent store leaflets to be won, which can be picked up in-store, and runs until the end of the month. Pupils from Buick Primary School have even come up with a new flavour and design! We’ll choose a winner from each school year and they’ll win a Christmas treat! “All week, our staff brought more sparkle to the shop by wearing their Shloer t-shirts and we had lots of excitement throughout the store as we got into the festive spirit. “It’s been fantastic to officially celebrate our new services alongside officially welcoming SPAR Bridge to the village. Together we bring fantastic services to the community, as well as continuing to support the local schools, church groups, voluntary organisations with our various in-store and out in the community initiatives, and of course our continued work with Cancer Fund for Children and Marie Curie NI.” SPAR Bridge is open Monday – Saturday 6am – 11pm, and Sunday 6am – 9pm. EUROSPAR Cullybackey is open Monday – Saturday 6am – 11pm. The Post Office at SPAR Bridge is open Monday – Sunday, 8am – 8pm. For more, visit spar-ni.co.uk and eurosparni.co.uk. 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