When shoppers rioted at the opening of Primark on Oxford Street in London early last month, because of inaccurate rumours of an opening half-price sale, it was nothing new as far as the history of Dunnes Stores was concerned.

When company founder Ben Dunne opened his first store on Patrick Street in Cork, March 30 1944, the cut-price drapery attracted such huge and enthusiastic crowds that the police had to be called to maintain order.

Ben Dunne, from Rostrevor, Co Down, first trained in drapery with Roches Stores, before opening his own chain. Today, it is still controlled by the Dunne family trust. It's not even a private limited company with shares, so it doesn't have to file accounts, but it doesn't have limited liability either.

The family, now headed by managing director Frank Dunne, runs a tightly guarded ship and rarely, if ever, comments on the trading performance of the chain.

Among the top dozen companies operating in Ireland, it has a turnover of more than e3bn, 18,000 staff, and a total of 151 stores, 15 of which are in England, Scotland and Spain, the rest on the island of Ireland.

Until the early 1960s, Dunnes Stores was exclusively drapery and didn't go into food until Ben Dunne began selling cut-price boxes of apples and oranges to consumers, who, until then, had to pay premium prices for fresh fruit. He expanded rapidly out of Cork and opened his first Dublin store on Henry Street in 1957. In 1966, he turned two disused factories into the Cornelscourt centre, south of Dublin, Ireland's first out-of-town shopping centre. Stillorgan opened at the same time.

Today, Dunnes Stores derives 60 per cent of its turnover from food, the balance coming from textiles and homeware. Lorraine Doyle, a spokesperson for Dunnes Stores, says textiles and homeware goods are all own brand, while in grocery, it offers own brand as an alternative to national brands.

She also says that this year, the group plans to open 15 new stores, via its aggressive development policy, including Arklow's Bridgewater Centre, Dublin's Beacon Quarter South, Gorey and McDonagh Junction in Kilkenny. Chances are if a new development is being planned in Ireland, Dunnes Stores will be the anchor.

Unusually, with the Charlesland centre being built at Finglas, north Dublin - close to where Ikea plans to open - Dunnes Stores has paid e80m to buy and fit out its store. A recent opening in Dublin city centre is a superbly designed and fitted-out homeware-only store on South Great Georges Street.

It also now faces increasing competition, not just from Tesco Ireland, regarded as the leader in the food market, but Aldi and Lidl, which, between them, have close to 10 per cent of the retail food market in Ireland. SuperValu is also gearing up and intends to overtake Dunnes Stores in food.

While it has always been popular with Irish shoppers for good value pricing and product quality, it is rarely free from controversy in the media.

In the 1980s, some store staff belonging to the retail workers' union in Ireland refused to handle goods from South Africa, due to its apartheid policies. Management wouldn't budge during the five-year dispute, which only ended when the then Irish government banned imports from South Africa.

Then, in 1992, Ben Dunne Jr, who had held a senior position in the company for many years, was involved in a scandal in Florida involving drugs and prostitutes. This created an internal feud, resulting in him leaving. His very successful interests now include health and fitness clubs. According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2007, Ben Dunne Jr is worth e231m.

Today, two of his siblings are in charge: managing director Frank Dunne and director of textiles Margaret Heffernan. According to the Sunday Times, Dunne is worth e918m, while Heffernan has assets of e745m, up from e603m last year. Sharon McMahon, a niece of Dunne and Heffernan, is also becoming a major player. And Anne Dunne, who has never had an active role, is worth e231m.

Tara Buckley, director general of RGDATA, the independent retailers' organisation, comments: "Dunnes Stores is a formidable Irish company. Traditionally the price leader, it faces considerable competition from large international players and aggressive independents.

"Frequently the subject of takeover and acquisition rumours," concludes Buckley, "the company seems determined to continue its own business course."

Dunnes Stores remains a unique model in Irish retailing but also highly aggressive and determinedly expansionist. Whatever it does next, it won't give its increasing number of competitors a moment's peace.

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