After 23 years as a niche retailer in the city centre, Susan Hunter is worried that the capital's retail offering is getting less interesting, writes Emma Cullinan

Susan of Susan Hunter Lingerie has one of the smallest shops in Dublin selling, er, smalls and, while she is perfectly happy in her premises, she is worried about the disappearance of interesting niche business from the Dublin retail world in general.

"The reason why people travel to different cities is to get a feeling for the culture," she says. "In Paris you know you're in France, and in Barcelona you know you're in Spain but, in some parts of Dublin, you could be anywhere."

The reason why tourists flock to Temple Bar, she says, is because it retains a distinct and lively atmosphere unlike some of our main streets, which are lined with multi-national stores.

"It's happening all over the city," says Susan, who has witnessed the changes since she set up in business, in Westbury Mall, off Grafton Street, in 1984 on the site of a former convent (as is the Westbury Hotel).

"In the past 23 years I've seen a lot of businesses come and go." Her worry is that, as leases come up, they are bought by developers who will combine premises into larger retail outlets.

Susan says that, while individual shops give a city a distinct identity, they also offer the sort of service you won't get in larger stores. And while some people prefer the anonymity of bigger shops, she says that there are many customers who prefer a one-to-one service: "Some people do feel nervous and as if they are being watched but others feel that in a big shop no-one is giving them any attention and they can't find a member of staff.

"People like to eyeball somebody from the company. When I buy something I like to feel that they cared about the fact that I came in and made a difference to their day.

"In this country a lot of people are time-short rather than financially short and they just want answers. They want to know if they can get something - or not - if it is not currently in stock. I can tell them definitively and I can also get things made up and source things. I can tell them what will work, what won't work and what is available so they get a short-cut in which things won't be done the wrong way."

The personal service has meant that Susan has got to know clients through various stages of their lives, for instance people who buy lingerie for their wedding and then return for maternity wear. Even the rise in city breaks and plush hotels has affected her business with people buying special weekend outfits: "In luxury country houses people aren't inclined to wear old rugby shirts in bed any more," she says. "It has - excuse the expression - had a knock-on effect."

She has also gained an insight into what women want.

"People who wear quite normal clothes will wear amazing lingerie. I get lovely - often older and larger - ladies in for silk nightwear, which feels so good, whatever size you are. If the foundation garments are right the rest will look good and that all comes back to personal service."

It was a lack of availability of products that led Susan to set up the shop in the first place. When she got married in 1981 she couldn't find a matching bra and knickers set. "It seems funny now, when you think of it."

She opened up in the middle of a recession: "Now you wouldn't be able to open a business in the way I did; you would have to have a business plan and provide projections and so on. I got an overdraft and the bank made me take out a life policy."

Times have changed and now there are other stores stocking similar products to hers, such as Brown Thomas. "I'm delighted they are there," she says. "When people come into town they like to shop around. If they can't get something in one place, they can seek it out elsewhere."

So while she is happy for all sorts of retail outlets to coexist she would like everybody to be aware of how global brands can dull a city.

"It is great to know that you are in one town as opposed to another because you get a local flavour. We export Irish pubs by the metre and people love coming to Ireland in search of an Irish experience."