Book review: No need to shop around for this story of Dunnes’ burgeoning retail empire

Ben Dunne Snr’s tough and ruthless style of business quickly carved out a business empire that accumulated immense wealth.

• Dynasty: Scandals, Triumph, Turmoil and Succession at the heart of Dunnes Stores
• Matt Cooper 
• Bonnier Books, €27.50

In the epilogue of Dynasty, author Matt Cooper refers to the recent TV series Succession as the veiled story of the Murdoch family and their media empire. 

In writing Dynasty, Cooper did not have to resort to innuendo. The Dunne family of Dunnes Stores have provided him with a first-class, on-the-record storyline. 

It is now up to Cooper to sell his script for what is bound to be a gripping TV series.

Cooper was ideally placed to write this story. Since the 1990s, he has been one of the leading current affairs/business commentators in the country. 

During that time, thanks to his role with various media outlets, he has had access to the Dunne family, particularly the late Ben. 

It is fair to say that on more than one occasion, Cooper was in or near ‘the room where it happened’.

Dynasty begins with Ben Dunne Snr growing up in Co Down. 

His early life was far from ideal. His father was a heavy drinker, and Ben went to work at 14 years of age. He worked a series of jobs in retail shops, which eventually brought him to work in Roches Stores, Cork.

His birth name was Ben Dunn, but sometime before his arrival in Cork, he added an ‘e’ to become Dunne. Cooper speculates this was to shed childhood memories and to begin a new life.

If this is so, then Ben Dunne Snr succeeded.

Dunne Snr left Roches Stores and opened this own retail store on Cork’s St Patrick St, with his wife Nora, and their business partner Des Darrer in 1944.

Starting a business in 1944 took bravery and courage. Ireland was all but bankrupt. 

People needed to wear clothes however, and the new Dunnes Stores set out to make clothes affordable for the lower social classes.

Dunne’s tactic was “buy cheap, sell fast at a small margin”. It worked. Add in the withholding payment of goods for up to 90 days, and within a few years, several more stores were opened.

Building a retail empire

Ben and Nora focused on building a retail empire. After a few years, they purchased a 100-acre farm in Mahon, Cork. 

In the early years, Ben would leave Cork early on Monday, stay in Dublin all week, and return on Saturday night. 

Meanwhile, Nora would spend her week at the Cork stores. As their six children grew up, five joined the business.

Ben and Nora’s work ethic and manner was passed on to the children. 

The two boys, Frank and Ben, became joint managing directors when their father died. Their sister Margaret Heffernan would eventually succeed both.

The second generation inherited Ben Snr’s tough, ruthless, business-first style. Everything else, family, employees, creditors, and taxes, were, at best, considered a nuisance.

The family accumulated fantastic wealth as the empire expanded. Money, however, does not guarantee an easy life.

From the 1960s, Dunnes Stores, or family members, have been embroiled in some of the most infamous disputes and scandals. 

Personal tragedy was never far away; alcohol, and in Ben’s case cocaine, cast a shadow over some family members.

There were famous strikes by employees, including the Apartheid strike — that lasted almost three years — and the Sunday working strike. 

There were also illegal work practices with other companies; donations to politicians, including over €1.3m to taoiseach Charlie Haughey; tribunals; and several tax settlements with the Revenue Commissioners. All of this is brilliantly related by Cooper.

Heffernan has been in control since her brother, Ben was ousted in the mid-1990s. She has best represented Ben Snr’s vision and has cleverly repositioned the company in the market place.

In the closing chapters, Cooper asks: With Margaret in her 80s, who will succeed her? Can Dunnes Stores survive as a family-owned business in the 21st century? 

However, Dunnes Stores have seen off every threat for eight decades and having read Cooper’s remarkable account, it is fair to say that anything can happen.