1965 – Winstons & Besco, William Street, Limerick

Former Winstons Department Store, joined by Besco, a supermarket chain. 16,000 sq.ft. of store with 10,000 sq.ft. devoted to drapery. Interesting concrete loggia with recessed large windows to retail hall. Winston’s was a Dublin-based chain while Besco was owned by the Breen family of Waterford. This was the fourth of these joint-ventures to open. Demolished.

“Specially built and designed for the business, Winston-Besco of Limerick is now one of the largest stores in Limerick City and one of the most modernly designed. Everything has been thought of for the comfort and pleasure of customers. Lighting is of the modern non-glare type under which colours retain their true value. The whole building with its large display windows and battery of plate glass doors is thermostatically heated and air conditioned. Decor is bright pastel shades accentuated by the more brilliant colouring of display units and set pieces.

A large portion of the 16,000 square feet floor space is carpeted while other portions are covered by soft tred tiling in attractive colourings. In the spacious supermarket equipped with background music, the array of packages and showcards make a sparkling kaleidoscope of colour to which long lines of strip lighting give added brilliance.

The fascia has a window surround of black grained marble and the two front display windows reaching down to footpath level is surmounted by an outjutting canopy spanning the entire frontage. The outer edge of the canopy bears the words Winston-Besco in large lettering on a fluted mahogany background. An excellent example of modern architecture and shopfitting, the new Winston-Besco building is an asset to Limerick’s William Street which is recent years has become one of the finest city streets as befits a city which has progressed so spectacularly during recent years.” The Irish Press, May 11 1965.

Winston’s bought the nearby Cannock’s department store in 1972. By 1980, it was decided that Cannock’s was not achieving its full potential, and the O’Connell Street premises was sold to Pennys for £950,000. The company continued to trade in Winston’s premises in William Street, before finally going into liquidation in 1984.