The history of the Irish Retail Newsagents Association, now renamed the Convenience Stores & Newsagents Association, (CSNA) can be traced back to 1926, when a group of Dublin newsagents and booksellers formed the Irish Retail Newsagents, Booksellers and Stationers Association. Since it's formation in 1988, the Irish Retail Newsagents Association had improved the circumstances of our members in man
y areas, negotiated on their behalf, kept a watchful eye on developments of interest to the sector and provided invaluable advice on many issues to it's members. In the last nineteen years, Irish business has been revolutionised. Many of our members have developed their businesses beyond recognition and do not regard newspapers and magazines as their primary source of income. Many stores have extended the business as convenience stores, the forecourt sector, while others are in the mini-supermarket category. In order to reflect better the businesses of all our members, the National Executive has implemented one of our key objectives, the re-branding of the Association. On May 30th, 2006, at our National Annual General Meeting, we unveiled both our new name and our new logo/tag line. We want this new body to be everything the Association has been, but more. We feel there is a need, particularly when recruiting new members, to identify, through our new name, with their business needs. We know we have expertise in many areas outside News and Magazines, as our name still indicates. Despite the change in logo and tag-line, the core values of the Association stay the same, that is, a commitment to our members to support and represent them. The Association is committed improving workplace skills and is currently running a course in collaboration with FÁS, Maximising Profits through News and Magazines as part of the ‘One Step Up’ programme. We continue to research areas of development and training, with further modules planned with an emphasis on certification, so that each module completed will be credited to an overall certificate in Supervisory Management. Member’s response to this initiative is extremely positive. The CSNA have policies on tobacco and its’ important place within our shops. These policies have been derived for the ultimate benefit of the retailer; not the Government, the Office of Tobacco Control or the cigarette companies.
