Ballycastle Co-op relaunches following a million pound makeover to transform the store, increase its focus on locally sourced products and bring a modern and exciting new-look store to conveniently serve the local community
The eight-week investment programme, ahead of the seasonal wave of visitors destined for the popular seaside town, provides a fresh new look and feel for the 5,500 sq ft store – enhancing the shopping experience in the community and developing a new and extensive range of fresh and local products.
Ballycastle is the latest Northern Ireland Co-op store to undertake a major refurbishment, with the convenience retailer investing more than £1.5M last year to refurbish and re-launch its Rosetta and Sydenham stores.
Located in The Diamond, Ballycastle, the store supports 23 local jobs. Its increased focus on quality local produce, will see more than 150 product lines offered by Northern Ireland businesses including: Barr’s butchers of Ballymena; Bertie’s Bakery, Clandeboye Estate; Colerane cheese; Dale Farm Ice cream; Denny and Sons; Dromona Dairy; Gallaghers Bakehouse; Hulls of Ballymena; Island Salads; Karri Foods with South-East Asian ready meals and, Rosie’s Bakes.
In addition, Ballycastle Co-op will include a new serve-over food to go counter by Ashers bakery, offering delicious food to go such as bakery products, stews, soups, chicken and, fresh cream cakes.
There will be new, more energy efficient refrigeration and, LED lighting, which as part of Co-op’s commitment to cutting carbon emissions reduces energy consumption at the store. In addition, soft plastic recycling enables consumers to return harder to recycle materials such as crisp packets and bread bags, lids from ready meals, biscuit wrappers and, pet food pouches.
Added services will include an InPost parcel locker for customers to manage the convenient collection and return of their parcels, a Costa Coffee Express, and payment services via PayPoint.
The store also acts as a fulfilment hub for Co-op’s leading Quick Commerce operation – shop.coop.co.uk – with online grocery orders picked fresh in the local store, and delivered quickly and conveniently locally.
Member prices online and in store create additional value for Co-op’s member-owners, with lower prices on an extensive range of every day products that shoppers buy most.
Matt Hood, Co-op Food MD, said: “We are delighted to start 2025 with a major investment in Ballycastle which I am delighted to see relaunch with a fantastic new look. Last year was a very strong year for Co-op in Northern Ireland, with major refurbishments to transform our Rosetta and Sydenham stores, an accelerated roll-out of our quick commerce operation, and the introduction of more than 150 great quality Northern Irish products from local suppliers on to our shelves.
“Our work remains firmly set on giving our members and customers great quality, responsibly sourced products and value, alongside the promotions and deals they love. Through added services and contribution to wider society we aim to make our stores a community hub as we focus on growing the number of members engaging with us in Northern Ireland.”
Nicola Norcott, Co-op’s Ballycastle store manager, said: “The whole team is proud and excited to have had the opportunity to invest in Ballycastle. Our aim is for our store to be a community hub combining great quality products, quick online delivery services, community participation and additional customer services, which can be enjoyed by everyone. We would like to thank our customers for their support during the works, and we are now really enjoying welcoming customers old and new into the store with the extensive programme of improvements completed – we have a fantastic, great looking store to serve and support our community, conveniently.”
