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Paddy Toner has been involved with food retailing since the tender age of 13 when he started working after school and during the holidays in a local butchers shop. After leaving school at 16, he was employed in September 1976 as a general store person by the Taylor family, who owned a VG shop in Draperstown. His first job being picking labels off packets of biscuits.
In 1988 Paddy was planning on leaving Taylors to take on a Henderson’s licensed store in Maghera, however the Taylors then offered him their store, which he initially leased and later bought off them. |
In 1992 he developed the second floor of Draperstown store into what is now known as Bodyline Leisure & Beauty Complex, which has one of the best-equipped gyms in Mid-Ulster, along with a comprehensive beauty and tanning facilities.
In June 1994 Paddy leased his second premises in Magherafelt; it was a brand new building in the centre of town, which was opened as a SPAR. Paddy obviously had a talent for the grocery trade and within 18 months of acquiring his second shop. He bought his third shop in Castledawson, which in its time was a Mace. He renovated the shop along with four adjoining flats and, in October 1995, he opened for business as yet another SPAR.
The final (to date) addition to Toners Supermarkets Ltd was in July 2001 when Paddy bought SPAR in Maghera off Andrew Millar & Co. Ltd. After trading with John Henderson Ltd. for 13 years, Paddy decided he wanted to develop his business more into mainstream grocery shopping. He thought long and hard about it and eventually decided that MSVC was better placed to provide him with the product range and back-up to enable him to develop the stores the way he wanted.
The decision made in early 2002, Paddy has now completed the conversion of his stores, the Maghera store becoming a SuperValu and both the Castledawson and Magherafelt stores now under the Centra banner. Draperstown is unbranded, as there is already a Centra in the town, though the shop benefits from all the promotions offered by MSVC.
Toners Supermarkets Ltd. have many awards under their wing: Draperstown store was named both Symbol and Neighbourhood Store of the year in the Neighbourhood Retailing Awards. Spotcheck award for consistently high standards of customer service. Encouraged by these accolades and spurred on by WRTC, Toners Supermarkets Ltd., with the dedication and commitment of his employees, resulted in the company being awarded the highly prestigious Investor In People accredition in July 2002.
Toners Supermarkets Ltd., will continue providing a quality shopping experience that sets one business apart from another and earns customer respect and loyalty.
