Open all eras: Ireland’s oldest shop has survived for more than 200 years but still has its eye on the future & More News Here

The future is wanting assured for what’s believed to be the oldest retailer in Ireland.

eremiah Higgins has traded on Main Street in Claremorris, Co Mayo, since 1820. 

It has survived the traumas of the Great Famine, the 1918 flu epidemic, the War of Independence, the Civil War, two World Wars and an enormous quantity of social change. 

But it by no means closed its doorways till the Covid pandemic hit.

“It was a difficult time,” stated co-owner Noreen Cunniffe, who runs the shop together with her husband, Martin.

He is the fifth era of the household to run it, and the couple’s two youngsters, Jonathan and Aishling, are ready in the wings to turn into the sixth.

“The lockdown was hard because in the shop’s 200-year history it had never closed,” Ms Cunniffe stated.

“We carried on on-line but it wasn’t the identical, in fact, as the retailer is a really a lot ‘come in and feel the ambience’ expertise.

“But we also felt that as the shop had survived famine, wars and huge change it would survive a pandemic too.”

Jeremiah Higgins is as a lot a mini-museum as it’s a retailer.

Along with toys that when belonged to generations of Higgins youngsters, the shop is dwelling to previous payments, invoices and different historic paperwork, together with clothes patterns and artefacts.

The shop was based by Patrick Higgins. It was then handed all the way down to his son, Thomas, who bequeathed it to his son, Jeremiah.

Jeremiah then left it to his daughters, Eileen and Delia (often known as the twins, though there have been six years between them), who subsequently left Jeremiah’s title over the door.

In the starting, the homeowners made and bought leather-based items earlier than branching out into material, haberdashery and giftware.

Other forebears put their stamp on the shop, together with Eileen and Delia, who ran it from the finish of World War II till 2015.

Delia was the crafter and excellent together with her palms, Ms Cunniffe stated.

Both had a repute for being mischievous and stuffed with enjoyable.

“Jonathan is studying computer science and Aishling is planning to study law next September,” Ms Cunniffe stated.

“Both grew up in the shop, and impressed by their granny and grand-aunt they’re aware of its historical past and custom and hope to hold on the legacy by retaining the historical past but additionally transferring ahead with the instances.

“Nothing was thrown out and we are lucky we inherited that history. We are also passing it on.”

Today, the enterprise employs 4 folks different than members of the Higgins household, and the lion’s share of its enterprise comes from folks residing inside a 30-mile radius. 

These days its web site is attracting a brand new breed of buyer.

The shop shares an eclectic mixture of merchandise, together with gentle furnishings, leather-based items and quirky items of jewelry.

Most of what’s for sale is made in Ireland and Scotland, adopted by Italian ranges and others from Britain.

The shop additionally helps craftspeople in a bid to protect conventional expertise, and the homeowners are planning to create space upstairs in the previous feather loft obtainable to skilled crafters.

The household are about to launch a variety of their very own gentle furnishings, Butterlinen Woodland Design, themed on Irish wildlife and landscapes

The items will probably be unique to the shop and designed in Ireland.

“These products are woven in quality jacquard material and the cushions are filled with feather and down that is sourced from Westport company Northern Feather,” Ms Cunniffe stated.

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