‘We have to move with the times’
MELLON'S DELI, SOUTH LOTTS ROAD, DUBLIN 4
Colm Mellon's family has been running a shop at 56 South Lotts Road in Ringsend since 1905. "There were nine shops around here, and we are the last one standing," he says. Mellon's is now run as a deli, with tables where customers can eat in.
His parents, Frank and Eileen, took over the business from his great-aunt Dolores, in 1979. “Back then, they sold a lot of vegetables, coal, newspapers, briquettes, and cigarettes.” By the time Mellon took over 20 years ago, in 2002, the area was changing, and quickly.
"There was a bit of construction taking off, and I could see the area was changing. Google was arriving. I got our first coffee machine in 2003. I remember one fella saying to me, 'Where do you think you are, Baggot Street?'"
Some years ago, his wife Noreen, gave up her job as a solicitor, and joined him in running the business. It’s Noreen who makes the home-made scones. “We sell a lot of coffees, and salads and rolls. We keep it simple, but nice and fresh.” Their Americano is €2.50. They open 7am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.
Mellon’s no longer sells coal or vegetables. It’s endured many changes, including the pandemic, when they lost their office-based customers. What it retains is what Mellon describes as “the personal touch. The thank you. The smile. Knowing someone’s name”. The customers trust the shop so much that it’s the place where keys are left, or parcels delivered to, for people who won’t be home.
'There are new customers we are getting to know now. They know we are a small local business and they support us'
A couple of years ago, their internet connection went down, and their lunchtime customers, clearly a very loyal lot, were unable to pay using their cards. “I filled two foolscap of names, and every one of them came back to pay. I don’t think you’d be able to give people a free lunch anywhere else in Dublin, and every single one of them then came back to pay – it really lifted our spirits.”
From 2005 to 2017, they lived across the road from the shop. Then they moved to Dingle, Co Kerry, with their young family. Since then, Mellon and his wife, who have four children under 10, take turns commuting to Dublin to run the shop in turn, week by week. "We were flat to the mat when we lived in Dublin. Things are easier now."
They may have lost some office workers, but they have gained new customers; those working from home, who want to get out of their space during the day for a coffee or lunch. “There are new customers we are getting to know now. They know we are a small local business and they support us. We have to move with the times.”
‘We traded through the Famine’
P BOURKE & COMPANY, DRAPERY, CARRICK ON SUIR, CO TIPPERARY
Lonan Burke is the seventh generation to run his family business, which he believes has been in existence since the early 19th century. Originally, Bourkes was "what we would call it the old fashioned drapery shop. We had household, ladies and gentlemen's wear. My grandmother was the fifth generation. She was Bourke and it was handed down to her. She married a Burke."
The shop, which is over three floors, still occupies its original building. Burke explains that although the family never lived over the shop, their staff did. “There used to be a staff of 12. They were fed, and had everything done for them.” Given that the shop continued to trade all through the Famine years, a job that came with bed and board in the 1840s and 1850s was extremely precious.
"We traded through the Famine, and amazingly, it didn't affect our business at all. We still had customs from big farmers and the gentry. Here, we are on the borders with Waterford and Tipperary and Kilkenny, and there have always been big farms there."
There were two or three maids employed to look after the staff of the shop. “They started at 14 or 15 years of age. It was like getting into the bank back in the day, getting into Bourke’s at that time was a huge thing; you were set up for life. They married well, especially the ladies, who sometimes met their husbands to be when they came in as customers.”
Burke took over the business in 1971. At that time, there were still two staff members living upstairs over the shop, as staff had done for more than 120 years. Three staff members who retired in recent years each had service of more than 60 years each. They dropped the household element of goods some times ago, focusing now on menswear and womenswear.
“We uses to sell a lot of shrouds. Everyone was buried in shrouds. They came in black and brown, and everything was wrapped in paper parcels. The shrouds were big business. They finished in the 1960s. But it’s quite often these days I’d sell a suit to someone for the wake. People will come and in and say, ‘Daddy is dead, and he has no suit for the wake’. I would get out a nice dark suit for them.”
When Burke took over in 1971, he made some changes. “Nothing structurally, but cosmetically. I modernised the whole shop. Basically we changed the shop around, put different departments in different places, put up new fixtures and all that.
As for Burke himself, 'There is no chance of me retiring any time soon'
We own the place, lock, stock and barrel. That is what had flummoxed a lot of other small businesses – not owning the premises.”
They currently have seven staff, and remain busy. “We have always concentrated on quality,” Burke says. “Menswear and suits would be big business, as well as slacks and shirts. Our farming clients have always been very important; they always wanted very good quality stuff, like sports jackets.”
In recent years, plastic bags have been replaced with paper. “Everything goes around in a circle; it’s all paper bags we have now again.” Burke puts their success and longitude down to excellent personal service. “We will do anything for a customer.” As for Burke himself, “There is no chance of me retiring any time soon.”
‘There was an old fashioned eating house you’d call a restaurant now’
COSGROVE'S DELICATESSEN, MARKET SQUARE, SLIGO
"We started off 125 years as a grocery store," says Michael Cosgrove. "It merged into a deli in the 1960s. My grandfather Michael came from Belmullet and married into the family; my grandmother was Elizabeth Kenny, the niece of the house."
In the early days, the shop was run as a general grocery and confectioners. “Behind that part, there was an old fashioned eating house you’d call a restaurant now. They sold boxes of chocolates and biscuits, and served basic hot dinners and basic teas in the eating house; nothing fancy.”
His father Kevin took over in 1955, and closed the eating house part of the premises. “He turned it all into a grocery shop. The foreign factories has started opening the area, some German one and their German employees were looking for tastes of their home country. “They were looking for home cooked meats and salamis and cheeses.”
'They want better quality stuff and don't mind spending on stuff that is good quality, and I think that is why we survived'
Cosgrove’s parents started to expand their offerings. They cooked their own hams, and bought in cheeses and started going to food shows. In 1975, when Cosgrove took over, they continued to buy in specialist food, and to cook their own meats. “We cook our own hams and turkeys. We’re the specialist go-to shop for cheese, salami and olives; all that type of stuff.”
They also now sell loose goods. “Muesli, nuts, porridge, beans, pulses, rice, dried fruits. We stock a big range of cheese.” Their best-sellers are their home-cooked hams and salads.
“People know so much more about food now, and are so interested. There are food shows on television and it’s all over magazines. There is nothing people won’t ask for now. They want better quality stuff and don’t mind spending on stuff that is good quality, and I think that is why we survived. We are the last grocery food store left in Sligo town.”
‘I am 87 and I come to work every day’
THE CASH COMPANY DRAPERY, ENNIS, CO CLARE
"The shop was called the Cash Company, because people used to charge up everything back then but because the business was only starting up, they couldn't give credit to customers," explains Oliver Moylan.
The Cash Company has been in his family since 1880; originally a department store, with an emphasis on drapery. The business started with a partnership of three; Peter Moylan, Parnell Keane, and Marcus Lynch. Over time, the Moylan family came to own the entire business. The original site was further down O'Connell Street.
Moylan’s father, a qualified doctor, ran the business from 1925 to 1964, alongside his medical practice. When Moylan left school, hoping to take over the business, father and son were not in agreement about how things should be run.
"I managed to get a Fulbright to Michelin State for six months, and my brief was to see how small family businesses survived in the US against the big guns. My father died when I was out there and I had to come home to take over the business."
In 1995, he closed the department element of the shop, leasing out those spaces. He kept on the menswear department. “We are a man’s outfitters. We sell suits, shirts, hats. Most men’s shops on cater for standard sizes, but we cater for all sizes. We stick to quality. Barbour jackets and all that kind of stuff.”
Moylan has passed the business on to his son, Peter, but he has remained engaged in it. “I am 87 and I come to work every day.”
‘Our shop is for the older generation’
LEINSTER HOUSE DRAPERY, ABBEYLEIX, CO LAOIS
"My grandmother, Elizabeth Bergen, inherited the shop from her uncle," current owner Kathleen Bergen says. The Leinster House Drapery has been operating since the 1880s.
“It was a general drapery. It sold jumpers and cardigans, wool and patterns, and oilcloths and boots,” she says.
When the business passed on to her father, Billy, it was her mother Julia who ran the shop. He died in 1975. “She has really been running the show ever since,” Bergen declares, who has been working in the shop herself full time for the last 20 years.
“We have childrenswear, going up from babies to age two to three. Ladies’ jumpers and skirts and shoes and a little bit of everything and the same for men. Our shop is for the older generation rather than the younger generation. It is nice to be here for so long, and we have the same people coming in all the time. We are part of the community.”
Bergen puts the survival of the shop down to the fact that they own the premises, thus they don’t pay any rent. Nor do they employ any staff. “If I need a hand, or a day off, I go to my daughter, and she steps in.”
They have always closed on Wednesday. “We still close on Wednesday.” Asked what she thinks is a busy day, Bergen replies, “We’d be lucky if we had a few in the door.”
‘We believe we are the oldest department store in the country’
BURGESS DEPARTMENT STORE, ATHLONE, CO WESTMEATH
"We believe we are the oldest department store in the country," says Rosie Boles, who is the managing director of Burgess. Thomas Burgess opened a garment shop in 1839.
“He sold collarless shirts, and trousers. They did coffins too. It was the beginning of the department store era,” she says.
There was an additional business in the family. "My grandfather, Robert Boles, had a shop in Boyle. That shop – Boles of Boyle – is a department store and it is still there." Boles's aunt, uncle and cousin run it.
Back in the 1950s, Boles's father Ian turned 19. "My grandfather thought Ian might want to go into the business, so he went off and did his training in the north of Ireland. When he came back, he started working in the Boyle store. Then he began getting more and more involved in the Athlone shop."
In 1963, Ian and his family moved to Athlone, and he ran Burgess there for many years. Rosie was then living in Dublin, where she had an interior design business.
“About 22 years ago, my dad started asking, ‘will I try and sell the shop, or would any of you be interested in it?’”
'Every shop owner who has an independent business is impassioned. We wouldn't be in it otherwise'
As it turned out, Boles ended up moving back to Athlone with her family, and slowly became more and more engaged in the business. “I agreed to become the chief worrier,” as she puts it. The shop sold menswear, womenswear, and homewares.
Back in 2009, RTÉ approached her to see if she was interested in taking part in their Retail Therapy series with Feargal Quinn. This was a series where independent shops were mentored for the cameras by Quinn, who offered his advice as to how they could be improved. It was perfect timing, as they were looking to rebrand, and refocus the shop.
“We had a camera crew around for a couple of months. The show came with a business guru. We were redirected and got great help from the programme. Feargal noticed we displayed our merchandise in an old fashioned way. He told us not to cram so much on the rails, and put in interior signage to direct customers.”
They changed the old white shopfront, and put in one with a more modern look, to avail of their showcase windows on Church Street. They rebranded their logo and their carrier bags, and then relaunched.
“We went out three times on air, due to repeats,” Boles says. ‘You could not buy that kind of publicity. It put us on the map in a national way.”
Their anchor product remains underwear, particularly women’s. “Our lingerie department is the best in the midlands, and is a big part of our business. The ladieswear in general is the backbone of the business. Then menswear and homewares, and school uniforms.”
During the pandemic, they re-organised their space. “It was a challenge, but we worked it in our favour. There had been a shoe department, and we closed it. We brought lingerie to the front. We had empty square footage downstairs, so we decided to turn it into eight little independent retail units. We call it the Village at Burgess.”
Among the units currently on site are a hairdresser, a coffee shop, a sushi place, a gallery and bookshop.
How does a modern department store compete against online shoppers?
“You have to get online yourself,” Boles says. “Our biggest competition online are our suppliers, so it is an impossibility to compete online, but we have a good website. Our shoppers browse it, and then they come in to try it on and buy. Every shop owner who has an independent business is impassioned. We wouldn’t be in it otherwise. Every independent shop, wherever it is, has something to offer.”
