Anne O’Keeffe, who has died at the age of 75, was a pioneer in the promotion of Irish artisan food. She played a key role in putting the products of local cheese-makers, bakers, farmers, fishermen and other producers on the map.
In the course of the 23 years since the O'Keeffe family took over the 117-year-old grocery shop at St Luke's Cross, on the north side of Cork city, she turned it into a cornucopia of artisan food, drawing shoppers from across the city looking for quality produce.
Paying tribute to her achievements, local artisan baker Declan Ryan described her as an “unsung heroine and a quiet, modest lady, loved by her staff and hugely influential in giving support to many of Cork’s small, high-quality food artisans.
“Her small, discreet, traditional local grocery shop became an exemplar for much of the retail trade. She quietly approached many of our best suppliers, giving them confidence and cash, as she always paid on time.”
Niche shop
Born in Cork, her first nine years were spent on Curaheen Road in Bishopstown, where the family lived in the dwelling house of the university farm managed by her father who died at an early age.
She went to national school in Glasheen and secondary school at Scoil Mhuire and Crosshaven. Having trained as a nurse, she worked for eight years at both the National Maternity Hospital on Holles Street and in the children’s ward of the Mercy hospital in Cork.
With her eldest son, David, she decided to develop a niche artisan shop rather than a supermarket. With 1,300 products on its shelves, ranging from farmhouse cheese, home-made ice-cream and yoghurt to chutney, chocolate, and bread, a visit to the shop was described as “wonderful” by food writer John McKenna. He said “it is a bit like walking into a gourmet deli like Donnybrook Fair”.
Besides paying producers promptly for their products, she encouraged them to be innovative. Unless shops actively promoted new product lines, she believed shoppers would “get bored” looking at standardised store shelving, product ranges and colour schemes.
New brands
In O’Keeffe’s view, customers liked to see new brands and wanted to hear friendly greetings from the 16 staff in her shop. She encouraged them to give customers a warm greeting when they came in the door and to chat to them in the check-out line.
She also encouraged producers to give customers a taste of new products in the belief that by giving them, for instance, a sample of salty country butter it could bring back long forgotten memories of home and a fond reminiscence of times past.
An Irish Times reader who selected O'Keeffe's in the Best Shops in Ireland series wrote that the customers "reflect the mix of people in the area: long-time Cork natives and lots of newcomers from all corners. When I was in there the other day, the man ahead of me in the queue . . . an older gentleman, not especially dressed up . . . bought cigarette papers and blue cheese. That sums it up."
Serving the community as an independent grocery since 1899, it has survived despite the big supermarket chains as one of the few small-time grocers now left in Ireland.
Predeceased by her son David, Anne O’Keeffe is survived by her husband, Daniel, daughter Marilyn, sons Paul and Donal, and sister Norma.