Thirty years growing in Ennis

THIRTY years ago while working as a teacher Matt Waters set out to grow his very own business in Ennis. From the initial seed of an idea the Clare Fruit and Veg Market in the Turnpike has gone on to become a mainstay of Ennis life, with people travelling from far and wide across county Clare to shop there.
This Friday, October 25, the store will mark three decades in business in the county capital with a variety of celebratory events planned.
Ahead of the big day The Clare Champion caught up with Matt and his daughter Nicola to reminisce about the last thirty years and the changes they have experienced through the years.
Originally from Tubber, Matt was working as a teacher in Garbally College, Ballinasloe when the idea for a fruit and veg shop in Ennis first came to him.
“My wife’s brother had been involved in the business quite a bit himself. He had a few shops around the country and I would find myself working for him on my own holidays,” he said.
“With that in mind I decided we would have a go of one ourselves. I spotted a niche in the market. There were a few smaller fruit and veg shops but not a lot at that stage so I decided to take a five year career break, three years first and then another two years.”
After his career break ended, Matt spent a further 12 years dividing his time between working in education and the business before eventually retiring from teaching.
He tells us he never envisaged that he would still be in the business all these years later.
“Definitely not, we were envisaging a corner shop that we would give five to ten years to, max, and we find ourselves here 30 years on,” he said.
While the Turnpike is now a bustling part of the town that is home to many businesses, it was a very different place back then he recalls.
“Initially I was here on my own, we just had Jim O’Dowd’s shop up the road at the top of the Turnpike. Then we were followed by Donie O’Keefe. Now we have a little village here with ourselves, Donie, CS Fish and the Health Connection,” he said.
And it isn’t just the Turnpike itself that has changed, with customers tastes also evolving over the years. Nicola says, “Thirty years ago it would be mainly carrots, potatoes, apples and bananas, ordinary fruit and veg. It’s all exotics now.”
Matt adds, “Take something like avocados, you wouldn’t even buy a box of them a week, you might just buy seven or eight of them when we started. Now we could be selling boxes a day.”
The pair have noticed an increased awareness among customers of healthy eating and with fresh loads of fruit and veg being delivered to the store every day they are well placed to meet that demand.
“Healthy eating is huge, and people are very aware of it. I suppose some of that is down to the internet which wasn’t around 30 years ago,” said Nicola.
“People come in looking for certain things they might have heard of and we always try and get them for them,” says Nicola.
She adds, “Freshness is huge. People that come into us generally come in nearly every day or every second day. They can go to supermarkets but the produce mightn’t be as fresh. We are getting deliveries every day of the week, that is one of our unique selling points.”
When the business first started Matt would travel to Dublin’s famous Smithfield Markets for produce. They now deal directly with suppliers in Holland as well as endeavouring as much as possible to support local producers.
“We try and have as much Irish produce as possible. People want Irish produce, that’s first and foremost and if we can’t get that then we go further afield but buying Irish is huge,” says Nicola.
“Our customers know where their food is coming from. We’ve had the same potato supplier from day one.
“People know Joe Austin in Tipperary. So people will come from all over Clare, and say ‘I want a bag of Joe Austin’s records’. No other records will do.”
Asked what he believes has been the secret to their success over the years Matt says it is a combination of quality, fresh produce, the “friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and courteous” staff with some working there more than 20 years, and the loyalty of their customers.
“We like to say we know most of our customers. A lot of them come in every day, or the same day every week as part of their routine.
“We know them by name and have the chat and people like that,” adds Nicola.
With Matt continuing, “Having said that, you still have people coming in after 30 years saying ‘I never knew you were here’. Which is great to see new customers coming in after this length of time.”
He pays particular tribute to the people of the Turnpike both past and present for all their support. “They have been very, very good to us. Not just for their loyalty to the business, but we also bring a lot of lorries around here at funny hours. We’ve got great support for the people, you couldn’t speak highly enough of them.”
He adds, “We also miss all of the people from the Turnpike that have died. There have been some great characters in the Turnpike. They would be down here first thing in the morning after collecting the pension and call in and it was brilliant chatting to them.”
There have been many memorable moments for the shop over the years, most notably the arrival of the legendary Muhammad Ali to the Turnpike in 2009. “There was great excitement that day. We put a fruit stand outside the door and gave away free fruit,” Matt recalls.
This Friday will mark another joyous occasion for the shop as they acknowledge their momentous 30th anniversary. Events planned include music, food and an outside broadcast by Clare FM between 12 o’clock and 3pm with giveaways taking place all week. There are also hopes the Liam McCarthy Cup will make an appearance.