Deelreeks 2 - Five Star Supermarkets

The Williams Group Tullamore Ltd. was formed as a holding company to control and co-ordinate the activities of the four existing companies, D. E. Williams Ltd., B. Daly and Co. Ltd., Keily & Co. Ltd., and the Irish Mist Liqueur Co. Ltd.

The company was incorporated in 1962 and acted as the controlling company of the retailing division. In the 1970s there were around 30 Five Star Supermarkets opened, with off-licence sections offering the range of wines, spirits and mineral drinks manufactured by the Williams Group.
In the 1975 the company acquired 13 Allied Suppliers Stores trading under the Lipton name.
Quinnsworth acquired the chain in 1979. 2008 the company was dissolved.

While working in Tullamore Distillery since 1864, D. E. Williams had also established his own grocery business in 1891 in Tullamore. This rapidly expanded to 26 bars, groceries and hardware stores all within a 30-mile radius of Tullamore. The branch houses, mostly licensed, were located in neighbouring towns, and the company expanded into an important wine and spirit business, general wholesale, tea and mineral waters. D. E. Williams Ltd. also had interests in malting and seed/corn dealing, which expanded in the 1950s as it became the supplier of malt to other distillers and brewers through the Midland Malting Co. Ltd. in 1968.

In 1961, D. E. Williams Ltd. expanded into the supermarket business and established the chain of Five-Star supermarkets, some on the sites of the original Williams branch shops. In 1966, the Williams Group Tullamore Ltd was incorporated and comprised the companies D. E Williams Ltd., B. Daly & Co. Ltd, Keily & Co. Ltd., and Irish Mist Liqueur Company.

In 1997 both companies were sold to Greencore plc.