Musgrave Northern Ireland – whose brands include SuperValu, Centra, Mace, Musgrave MarketPlace, Drinks Inc. and Robb Wines – is committed to supporting local.
Demonstrated by its £166m annual spend with local suppliers, producers and farmers, Musgrave is also firmly focused on making a difference in the communities it serves, through meaningful partnerships with local charities, Desi Derby, director of marketing says.
“Building long term stable relationships is one of our underlying values at Musgrave, and that’s evident in the support we have for our charity partners – Action Cancer and Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke,” he says.
Since 2001, Musgrave, through its SuperValu and Centra retail brands, has supported Action Cancer, raising over £3.8m to date, helping to keep the charity’s mobile detection unit the Big Bus on the road – delivering life-saving breast screening, skin cancer detection and health check appointments to communities across Northern Ireland. The brands also fund Action Cancer’s health action programme, educating school pupils about healthy lifestyles.
Mace has supported Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke since 2016, alongside Musgrave MarketPlace and Drinks Inc. Together, the brands have raised more than £350,000 to help deliver vital care and prevention services for people living with chest, heart and stroke conditions, as well as carrying out crucial research into prevention.
“We’ve had a successful year of fundraising so far, with campaigns including Espresso We Care, when we donated 50p of every Frank and Honest coffee sold over four days to our charity partners, raising a fantastic £28,600,” Desi says.
“We also donated 50p from the sale of pumpkins to Action Cancer, and Mace stores took part in ‘A MACE-ing Donate Day’ to raise money for vital blood pressure checks.
“The support from our independent retail partners, their teams, our colleagues and of course our customers, is second to none, and we look forward to sharing our annual fundraising totals early in 2025.”
Musgrave’s support for local doesn’t stop there. To date it has planted 15,000 trees across 50 locations supporting community groups, sports clubs, schools and farmers, in partnership with Trees on the Land. A further 5,000 trees will be planted in early 2025.
And last year, Musgrave joined forces with social enterprise Now Group, launching its Skills to Employment Programme (STEP) to employ adults with neurodiverse conditions or learning disabilities. SuperValu and Centra stores have also become JAM Card friendly, giving customers with communication barriers Just A Minute in a non-verbal way. Earlier this year, Musgrave was named JAM Card Partner of the Year by Now Group.
In the education sphere, Musgrave is an ESG partner of Young Enterprise NI, helping to empower young people become responsible and sustainable business leaders of the future. The business has also joined the SistersIN Leadership Programme that will see senior female leaders mentor sixth form pupils, helping to empower young women to embrace their potential and develop the skills needed to thrive in their future careers.
“We have over 200 SuperValu, Centra and Mace stores located in the heart of communities across Northern Ireland,” Desi says. “Our retailers and their teams live and work in these communities and together we aim to make a difference. Each of these partnerships reflect our values and purpose and are making a tangible and valuable impact – we look forward to continuing to support these causes and to making a real difference.”