Dunnes Stores

Bernard "Ben" Dunne began his retail career as an employee at Anderson's drapery shop in Drogheda, Ireland, in 1926. He later worked in Cameron's drapery shop in Longford town. In the mid-1930s, Dunne moved to Roches Stores in Cork. He rose to become a senior buyer for Roches Stores. When he was asked to oversee Roches' entire drapery business, he agreed on condition that he receive a pay rise. The owners refused, noting that he would be earning more than any of them. Dunne decided to leave Roches Stores and set up his own business.

Dunne, together with his friend Des Darrer, opened his first drapery shop across the road from Roches Stores on St Patrick’s Street, Cork on 31 March 1944, promising "better value" by offering goods at pre-war prices.

The business expanded in the late 1940s, opening new shops on Cathedral Street, Waterford on 8 August 1946 and on North Main Street, Cork and in Mallow in 1947.

Dunne and Darrer continued as partners until 1952, when they dissolved the partnership and Darrer took ownership of the Waterford shop, initially continuing to trade under the Dunnes Stores name before renaming it Darrers in 1966.

Dunnes opened shops on O'Connell Street, Limerick in 1954 and in Wexford in 1955.

During the 1950s, Dunnes began to take its first small steps towards entering the grocery market, selling boxes of apples and oranges from its shop on St Patrick's Street, Cork.

Dunnes introduced its own-brand range in 1956, then branded as St Bernard (using its founder's first name), modelled on the Marks & Spencer St Michael brand.

Dunnes opened its first Dublin shop, on Henry Street, in 1957.

Dunne opened a large shop on South Great George's Street, Dublin in 1960. This shop allowed customers to browse through items on racks before making a purchase, which was new to Irish retail.

Dunnes continued to expand during the 1960s, and in 1963, Dunne grouped his growing number of shops under a new corporate structure, Dunnes Holding Company, which took over ownership of the entire operation. …

In 1984, Mary Manning, a shop worker in the Henry Street, Dublin branch, made international headlines when she led a picket for almost three years against the sale by Dunnes of fruit sourced from South Africa, then governing under a system of apartheid. Ewan MacColl wrote a song about the issue. The Irish Government eventually banned all imports from South Africa until the end of apartheid. The workers met African National Congress leader and political prisoner Nelson Mandela on the occasion of his conferral of the Freedom of the City of Dublin in 1990. A plaque presented by President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki, commemorating the action, was unveiled in Dublin in June 2008, and a street has been named after Manning in Johannesburg. Manning was invited to attend the Funeral of Nelson Mandela in 2013.

In September 2011, the Irish Independent found that Dunnes Stores was selling bra-and-knicker sets for three to six-year-old girls. Dunnes also had padded bras for girls with a 28 to 30-inch chest, which are the typical measurements of nine-year-old girls.

A boycott was attempted on Dunnes in 1997 due to reports of selling goods made in Burma.

On 2 April 2015, members of the Mandate Trade Union had a one-day dispute at 109 branches of Dunnes Stores. The dispute concerned low-hour contracts (typically 15 hours per week), income and employment security, and the continued failure of Dunnes Stores to recognise or engage with the Mandate Trade Union, contrary to the recommendations of the Labour Court.

Dunnes Stores has been criticised for leaving large supermarket premises vacant after closure rather than leasing or selling them to other businesses, contributing to urban dereliction in Tralee, Kilkenny, Wexford and Limerick.