Running a €260m retail business: 'Customers can't care about your problems. They want their stock'
Jim Barry, Managing Director of Barry Group. Picture Dan Linehan
Retail and off-licence firm the Barry Group is aiming to push revenues towards €300m as it continues to expand its footprint across Ireland.
The Barry Group operates franchises for the retail and off-licence sector as well as the wholesale supply of alcohol, hardware, and grocery. It has around 100 Costcutters franchisees across Ireland and 100 Carry-Out off-licences, with around smaller 40 Quik Pik stores. It operates a wholesale service in parallel to the franchise business, serving independent retailers as well as larger key customers like Woodies, Mr Price, Applegreen, and Dairygold.
The company posted revenues of €261m in its most recent financial results. Executive chairman Jim Barry said the company is expecting "very decent growth" for the next two to three years. "We have acquisitions lined up and when you add those acquisitions, we'd be hoping to get very near €300m revenue," he said.
With the clock ticking towards Christmas, it’s the biggest fortnight in the retail calendar, and at the headquarters of the Barry Group in Mallow in Co Cork, they are distributing 250,000 boxes of goods this week to customers across the country.
“In a normal week, we’d probably be doing 160,000 or 170,000 boxes in a regular week, going 20 hours a day, from 4am until the last truck is filled at 12am, so these two weeks are very, very busy. Everything will be full on Monday and Tuesday, and we'll probably have 14 trucks out on Christmas Eve,” said executive chairman Jim Barry.
"The trucks now are doing two loads a day at a minute. You need to be able to step up for the peaks because the customers can't care about your problems. They want their stock."
The Barry Group expects to continue expanding in 2026, estimating 15 new stores annually will be joining the group over the next three years. Typical existing stores have weekly turnover from €30,000 right up to €120,000.
The target in three years is to have about 25% of all sales through their own brands. The group has developed a range of home brands including Meadowbrook Farm meat range, Market St deli, Freezi Licks Irish ice cream, and Urban Sips coffee, a brand which has some stores selling over 4,000 cups a week of coffee.
On the alcohol side, the Carry Out off-licence business which was acquired in 2009 is now worth around €100m annually to the group, with around 19% of those sales through their own exclusive brands like Mission Sud wine. In 2026, larger Carry Out stores will be introduced. "We are trying to attract a larger store because that's how we see the market going. We have a number of guys lined up coming with a bigger square footage which will allow us to sell other products that will align with alcohol.
"Part of our thinking is gifting - wine can be a gift, whiskey can be a gift, a hamper, candle, it could be luxury box chocolates. There's a very extensive alcohol range and space is not our friend. So that's why we're going to need a bigger square footage."
In the retail battleground, the Barry Group continues to grow despite a challenging environment. It has prospered by providing services beyond stock to customers – smaller stores get access to expertise on everything from shop layouts to financing which would be otherwise out of reach.
“If you look at market share now, the independents would be dropping, and the multiples are rising. So ultimately what you're trying to do is help people run the business better so that they will not be a casualty.
"If you're a business person, you can only have so many things going on in your head. We have identified all the skills that are required and we'd make sure we have advisors or support for retailers. It is very hard for a retailer to do it on their own now, especially as businesses get more complicated and more red tape.
“We have an account manager calling every three weeks to the Costcutter stores. That's very much an advisory call, helping them how to execute better, to overcome issues. We share knowledge with them.
“My philosophy is our customers need to make money. If they don’t, we haven’t got a purpose.”
Just like the retailers are in a challenging environment, the Barry Group itself must be ahead of the game to survive. “Our competitors are larger than us, so we need to be better,” says Jim.
"I played a lot of rugby when I was younger, and I brought a lot of that whole ethos of team into the business over the years – trying to keep morale high, working together, celebrating victories, and setting out to win the game."
The Barry Group now employs 250 people, a "manageable number", says Jim, and means the group is tight.
"I'd make a point to walk into the warehouse on a very regular basis. I know everybody in the offices. I know most of the guys in the warehouse. A few of the drivers I might not know because some are off-site, but in general, I know the vast majority of the guys.
“I'd probably be a hands-on MD, which is good and bad. But from a customer service point of view, certainly I would be all over it. We're very clear on how we roll and our values and our style and our culture.
"We can make quick decisions and respond faster to pricing the market. Our strengths are being close to the customers and making sure you got your logistics absolutely on the nail."
The Barry Group's logistics are impressive, with 99.8% on-time deliveries.
“We're very good at logistics, delivering a high service level and in terms of a truck arriving at time. We have a half-hour delivery window - some of our competitors in a four or five hour window.
"We try to do is take away the problems that retailers. A lot of Costcutter would be getting three deliveries a week. We have and make it easier for them so they know the truck is going to arrive on time. Those small things matter.”
The Barry Group is celebrating 70 years in business. Jim’s late father James was the founder, starting off selling confectionery and minerals locally from a shed in Banteer in 1955.
“He expanded into fruit and veg then fairly quickly and then he had a couple of trucks based out of Banteer, and opening a store near the station. In the late 1960s he bought the KB Williams mill in Mallow – the site is now home to a Chemist Warehouse – and the family moved to Mallow in the early 1970s.
“We moved to Mallow 50 years ago and he opened the cash and carry in Mallow, which kind of was the next step for the business. He was very brave because they were tough times in Ireland. But he gave us a great base.” Jim came into business in 1981 and his six siblings were all involved in the business at a stage.
“We grew the business from a local kind of cash and carry and by the late 80s we were definitely becoming a national wholesaler."
Their first brand was QuikPik in the early 1990s, a response to how the market was changing, with the rise of ‘symbol’ groups. They started another brand called Emerald, targeting larger stores and in 2000 the company bought the Costcutter franchise group, with Emerald stores becoming part of Costcutter.
“Since then we've completely changed the feel of Costcutter. It’s now a totally different image, we would feel it’s a lot more vibrant.
“We’re in a very good vein at the minute and we’d be very confident we’ll be adding over 15 stores every year for the next three years."
A third generation of the Barry family are now working in the business. Eldest daughter Holly, is in the business over 10 years, starting out in marketing with her role now evolving into strategy and innovation. Amy heads up people and culture while son Jamie has just joined the business, focusing on commercial.
Even in retirement, the late James Barry, who died in 2021, aged 92, was a familiar figure around the business, and his image still sits proudly at the reception desk. Jim is now a grandfather and while he has no plans to leave the business in the immediate future, he has begun a “kind of transition plan”.
“For me one of my biggest challenges is to make sure I can pass on my knowledge to them. They’ll evolve it but I need to make sure that there’s a successful, functional, structure because a lot of family businesses can end up in trouble."
The business is exploring how AI can make it more efficient, with a new IT system and increased robotics extending the life of a warehouse opened in 1998 and extended 20 years later. A new online ordering model will launch in mid-2026.
"We've a lot more capacity and that's where our time needs to go into. I believe we can probably do the same volume again out of the warehouse just by being more efficient."
Jim Barry says early decision-making and being agile is key to the company's success. “When I look back and see if when we got involved in symbol retailing with QuikPick, if we hadn't made that call back then we wouldn't be here today. We’d be gone."
He believes the enemy of business in 2026 is costs which are "going nuts". "I think everybody is going to be forced to really look at the cost base and their efficiences over the next couple of years. You can't keep your head in the sand and you can't keep increasing prices. At the minute the consumer is very tight and they are frugal. They are watching where money is going, and trying to make it go further. So you can't just keep stacking up on price. Labour costs are going up in retail - I haven't got a problem for a size of our company but i think in smaller retailers it's going to force a chunk of motion and retail will change. It will impact store ownership. Auto enrollment is going to to be hitting all businesses.
"The cost of everything is rising. So it's like everybody seems to be able to increase their prices, apart from us. We're in a war of value the whole time. But there's a lot going on in the business. Irish retail is world class in general. It's nice to be playing in a high standard game."
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