Three Cavan Gala stores among best in Ireland
Three Cavan Gala Retail stores have been named among the best stores in Ireland at the 2025 Gala Retail ‘Delivering the Difference’ annual conference.
Held at the Great Southern Hotel in Killarney, McKenna’s Gala, Killydoon; Lee’s Gala, Ballyhaise and Smith’s Gala, Ballyconnell, were named as Gala Retail Excellence Award winners.
All three stores were also named as finalists in the Gala Category Awards with Lee’s Gala named runner-up in the Baker’s Corner category, Smith’s Gala named as runner-up in the Social Media Champion category, and McKenna’s Gala, named runner-up in the Marketing Initiative category.
Sports broadcaster Jacqui Hurley was MC for the celebratory evening event, and speakers Bernard Jackman and Geoff Ramm featured at the morning conference.
The Gala Excellence Awards are presented to Gala stores that are deemed ‘outstanding’ following a comprehensive and independent assessment process.
More retailers than ever before achieved the standard, which is reflective of the Group’s focus on quality, community-centric and innovative retailers.
“Gala Retail stores in County Cavan consistently feature as some of the best performing stores across the Group,” explained Gary Desmond, who is CEO of Gala Retail.
Mr Desmond adds: “I’m delighted to see our Cavan retailers getting the recognition they deserve and would like to thank each of the Gala store owners and their teams for their loyalty, hard work and dedication to quality convenience retailing.
“Our theme at this year’s conference was ‘Delivering the Difference’ and these stores make a difference to their shoppers and communities every day.”
At the Gala Retail conference, it was announced that over €100,000 of Gala Greener Grants have been gifted to retailers by the convenience retail group – part of a €500,000 fund that’s been created to help retailers transition to energy-efficient and sustainable retailing of the future.
As one of the most progressive convenience groups in Ireland, Gala stores benefit from national expertise, coupled with local wholesaler support and a store model, which ensures that every Gala store is designed to deliver to its local community’s requirements.