Harrington’s Mace Ardgroom celebrates its latest revamp

Harrington’s Mace in Ardgroom, West Cork, has just undergone a well deserved revamp.

The post office, filling station and grocery store recently held a family fun day to celebrate the launch of the new-look premises at the start of the year and also hosted a Tour de Mace cycling fundraising day.

The shop has been at the heart of the Ardgroom community on the Beara peninsula in West Cork for more than 100 years and has branched out into a myriad of services over that time, offering everything from fuel, a cafe and home-made bread and cakes to hardware and local arts and crafts.

Owner Noralene Harrington and her husband John say the store was the first Post Office in Ardgroom.

“It’s been in our family since 1907 – it was set up by my great grandparents in 1907 and my grandparents had the post office.

“My mother and father took it over in 1950, Mary and Dan R Harrington.”

The current premises were set up in 1950 and a makeover was carried out in 1968, Noralene says.

“It was developed further in 1985 and 2005,” she says.

The most recent makeover began in October last year and was completed by the end of October, following negotiation with Mace who were amazing in their support and in their awareness of community and core to the development was the ethos of family business which they were totally supportive of, Noralene says.

“We have new shelving, a new shop floor, new fridges, a new off licence section – we have a full range of beers, spirits and wines.

“It’s very modern and people are very pleased with the revamp.”

During the pandemic, Harrington’s was also quick to spot the potential in foodservice and offers a 30-seater cafe with home-cooked food.

“We have seating outside which we wouldn’t have thought of before the pandemic. The seating outside is lovely with a canopy,” Noralene says.

“We offer soup and sandwiches, light food really – sweets, pastries, cakes etc. Outside catering is probably an area we could develop in but at the moment we offer light food –  sandwiches and small bites.”

To read the full feature, watch out for the next issue of Ireland’s Forecourt & Convenience Retailer.