Daybreak to open 37 additional Irish stores with €8.2m investment

Daybreak, the retailer operated by Musgrave, is to open 37 new Irish stores this year with an €8.2 million investment. The expansion programme will ultimately bring the group’s network of Irish stores from 300 to 360 by 2025.

The company said the investment would lead to the creation of “approximately 500 jobs”. However, it is understood a number of these roles will be filled by staff from other brands within the Musgrave estate.

In a statement accompanying the announcement, Daybreak said its sales increased by 15 per cent last year compared to pre-Covid 2019, while revamped stores have seen sales grow by 22 per cent.

Grocery revenues were in decline across the market for most of last year as the economy returned to normality following the pandemic, which had led to a spike in shop sales in 2020 and 2021.

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Musgrave’s Thomas Morrison said the market for evening meals in particular has been performing “very strongly”.

“We are also cognisant that these are challenging times, with increased living costs and rising inflation. We’re continuously adapting to meet our customers’ needs and give them the best possible value,” he added.

Musgrave, which is headquartered in Cork and also owns SuperValu and Centra, increased sales by 1 per cent in 2021 to breach the €4.5 billion barrier, its most recent accounts show. The company’s pretax profits also rose by about 12 per cent to more than €110 million in the year.

Of Musgrave’s group turnover, €3.8 billion was generated by its operations in the Republic, where it owns Daybreak, SuperValu and Centra as well as a chain of cash-and-carry outlets and the Donnybrook Fair upmarket retail chain that it bought in 2018 in a deal worth up to €25 million.

Musgrave said in its annual report that it spent €40 million on revamps and new store openings in 2021.