Eddie and Annette Tobin own and manage Tobin’s Service Station and Gala store, located on the Port Road, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. the business was started on the Port Road by Eddie’s father, Patrick, in 1980. Eddie and Annette built a new convenience store on the original site, offering their customers a fresh and modern shopping experience. 

Tobin’s Service Station and Gala store has received numerous awards including Forecourt Retailer of the Year (C-Store Awards, Shelf Life, 2008) Best Forecourt Facilities (Ireland’s Forecourt and Convenience Retailer, 2008), and the store has also been the recipient of Gala Store of the Year Awards twice in recent times.

Eddie and Annette Tobin recognise the benefits of training their staff in order to meet and exceed their customer’s expectations. Tobin’s staff have been training on the IBEC Retail Skillnet programme and they currently have 14 staff availing of the work based qualifications.

Annette reports that there are many benefits of using the IBEC Retail skillnet programme. She states “Previously we had looked at other training programmes aimed at the retail sector, however these were usually delivered in different areas throughout the country and required staff to be released from the store for a number of days in order to complete the training. It was not feasible for us to release all the staff, who wished to be trained, from the store at the same time. The accredited training programme offered by IBEC Retail skillnet allows the training to take place in-store providing the best of both worlds”.

She continues, “The training provides reinforcement of best practice and allows staff to reacquaint themselves with company policies regarding all aspects of the business, e.g.: Health and Safety policies, Customer complaints policies and so on”.

She also added: “We have found that the training introduces new and beneficial ideas for the business which arise through discussion around the topics and through the assessment methods used in the qualifications”.

Annette also points out that the programme provides benefits for the staff, ” Some of our staff may have been out of education for a long time. The training introduces them back into the world of education and offers them a chance to gain qualifications which allow them to access higher education courses. They also are more involved in the day-to-day operation of the business.”

When asked about the importance of investing in training Annette responded, “In the present economic climate it is essential to have well trained and effective staff. Customer Service is now more important than ever as businesses compete in very difficult trading conditions”.