Centra spent €241.1 million in local communities in 2013 according to the retailer's Community Impact Study. This represents an average of €4.5 million a week through a combination of payments to local suppliers, acquisition of local business services, wages, charitable donations and local sponsorships across its 460 stores in Ireland.
Centra stores also sourced €59 million worth of products from over 1,400 local suppliers, and contributes €2.5 million in donations or sponsorship commitments to over 5,500 local charities, community groups, schools and sports clubs. As well as supporting local suppliers, Centra stores spent €12.6 million with a vast amount of businesses in communities where its stores are located in 2013.
Centra managing director Martin Kelleher commented, “Our study shows Centra is spending almost a quarter of a billion euros in communities all over Ireland, that’s over €524,000 per store. We now have solid data demonstrating the significant economic importance and impact of our stores up and down the country.”
Additionally, Centra stores employ 11,820 people across its network with an average of 25 jobs in each store community. Earlier this year Centra announced a 3.5% boost in sales in 2013 to almost €1.5 billion. Over €1 billion of goods sold last year were sourced in Ireland, including €130 million of fresh Irish food. As a result of this recent performance, Centra project €1 billion will have been invested in local communities in the four year period to 2016.
© 2014 - Checkout Magazine by Genna Patterson
