Billy McSweeney wiped his hands against his white apron, cleaned off the counter of his butcher's shop and switched off the lights.
At 1 p.m. on Saturday his premises would normally be bustling with shoppers.
But commercial life in Midleton came to a halt on Saturday afternoon as a mark of respect to the Holohan family.
"Today would be busy alright, but that doesn't come into it on a day like this," Mr McSweeney said.
"There's been a terrible atmosphere since they found the poor lad. This is something for England or America, not Midleton. I've had a sick feeling in my stomach all week.
"They're a well-liked family. Majella would be going up the town.
"You'd hear her before you'd see her. She's that kind of bubbly character."
A sombre silence fell across Midleton as steel shutters were drawn down over businesses, shop doors were locked and the last customers in pubs and restaurants filed out on to the streets.
Only Lidl, the supermarket on the edge of town, stayed open. Its aisles and car-park remained largely empty.
Some shops had candle-lit memorials to Robert in their front windows.
Black ribbons fluttered from the doors of a few premises, with many still displaying"missing" posters for Robert Holohan.
Thousands of local people quietly made their way up Main Street to the Church of the Most Holy Rosary, which overlooks the town, for the funeral Mass.
Many children wore the black Midleton GAA tracksuit, part of which Robert was wearing on the day he disappeared.
At a florists on the Main Street, Lesley King put the finishing touches to a wreath being collected by one of the local businesses.
"We've had children coming in for small posies, businesses getting wreaths on behalf of their employees; people who didn't know the boy or the family," said King, manager of Floral Affair.
"It's something that has affected the entire community. There is a gloom over the town. Everyone is just stunned."
At the Himalaya Restaurant on Distillery Lane, Sarker Karim, a Bangladeshi, was closing the front door of the building for the day.
"Even though we are not from here, we feel shocked that this kind of thing could happen," said Mr Karim, the manager of the restaurant which is owned by Habibe Millat, a Cork-based hospital consultant.
"I know Majella, she's always smiling and she would always wave at you from a distance if she was passing down the street.
"Like many businesses we are going to open tonight and invite the gardaí, who have been helping in the investigation, for complimentary meals. We want to help in some small way."
Further down the Main Street, Austin Bolger, owner of Dennehy's newsagents, drew down the noisy steel shutter in front on his shop.
Robert's grandfather, Willie, is a regular in the shop, collecting his ordered newspapers once a week.
"What has happened here is like something in Sri Lanka. People are completely devastated.
"There's no click, no buzz in the town," he said.
One small encouraging aspect to come out of the tragedy was the response of the people, and business owners, since Robert's disappearance, he said.