Renovation job at major Kildare supermarket to finish before Christmas

A major refurbishment project at a Tesco store in Naas is expected to be completed by Christmas.

A substantial amount of work is being undertaken to install new shelving, storage and refrigeration infrastructure at the Blessington Road premises.

The work has been undertaken without the need to close the store.

It is thought that the work will conclude on December 10 and the bill for the upgrade will come in at about €500,000.

The store is a sister outlet of the much larger and newer store which anchors the Monread Shopping Centre.

It was opened by the then Taoiseach Brian Cowen in November 2010. It employed 266 people at that point and for a time was the largest Tesco store in Ireland. This, coupled with the opening of Dunnes Stores off North Main Street, gave rise to speculation that the much smaller Blessington Road might close.

But Tesco said at the time that the store, which then employed about 25 people, would remain open.

The company said: “With ample parking, our town centre store is a long-standing part of the Naas community, we are very proud to serve a staple cohort of loyal customers from the town and surrounding communities.”

The Blessington Road site has housed a supermarket since 1973.

Penneys had a store at the same location, which occupied 6,100 square feet and which closed in April 2015. The company said then that the unit is older and smaller than the Penneys building in Newbridge which has 49,400 sq ft of selling space.