'People took it for granted': Tipperary store to close after more than 70 years in business

A Tipperary shop owner has said that "people probably did take it for granted" before he announced its closure.

Meehan's Drapers in Mullinahone will open it's doors for the final time on November 29th.

Once the doors close at 5pm that evening, they will never open again. 

Reflecting on his time running the shop, Paul Meehan, the owner of Meehan's Drapery expressed a great love and appreciation for the time that he had at the shop. 

"I love it, love it when it's busy. Loved the buzz of back to school," he said. 

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Paul's mother Nonie opened the shop as a news agency in Kickham Street in 1955.

It then expanded into a drapers, baby boutique, and stationary shop in 1979 when they moved into the Carrick Street premises. 

"When people bought a present, a baby present or whatever, they could get gift paper and cards and all that. So we kind of developed the business," Paul said.

Since then, the shop continued to grow and grow but then in 2011, things took a turn and the business changed.

"My father passed away and my mother got cancer then and I kind of had to be hands on in the shop," Paul said.

He wasn't sure whether this is something he wanted to do but his mother was concerned about the shop in her final few weeks of life so Paul decided to take over. 

"I reflected on it and I said, 'Yeah, I'll open in the evenings.' I work in the HSE and I open in the evenings from half five to half seven and Saturday from ten until five," he said. 

After he took over, Paul got 14 schools on board to stock their uniforms, bringing the total number of schools being stocked to 15. 

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"We were doing all the schools around and it was great. It developed and then the local GAA came to us and they said, 'We'd love to have a home for all the gear.' So that was great. That developed and the parents were buying hoodies and jackets and beanie hats and the whole lot," Paul said. 

The business was booming so the building had to be upgraded to accommodate the growth. 

There was a room in the back that Paul converted into a dressing room and opened toilets too.

They got new signage and revamped the inside of the shop as well.

Everything was going well then for over 10 years, but in the past two or three, some schools started to go their own way and source uniforms elsewhere. 

"That was a little bit disappointing because we were able to cater for everyone. We would even visit schools and take sizes and get their names embroidered and they might give a deposit and we deliver it back to the schools then with their names on it and collect the balance," Paul said. 

Following on from that, the local GAA got new managers and decided to get their gear from O'Neill's directly.

Meehan's Drapery then started to rely on the surrounding parishes to support the business. 

Paul says the shop was never about money and that they didn't even take a wage from it. 

They just reinvested any profits into the shop to help it to continue to grow. 

When locals started to look elsewhere for uniforms and GAA gear and others were heading into town over shopping local, Paul needed to take a look at the business and whether it was worth staying open. 

"M accountant said, "Paul, I don't think this is going the right way. It's not viable anymore.' So, look, we decided to close shop altogether because, you know, there was too much. We were losing too much business,” Paul said. 

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When asked whether he felt the local community could have supported him more, Paul said he felt as though they could have. 

"Yeah, I was disappointed. I was disappointed locally like, I think if the local community, the schools and the GAA, stayed supporting it could have been different. I mean, they're the backbone of it," he said.

Paul was disappointed in the lack of local support because he feels as though his family legacy was to support the area. 

"I felt we gave a good service for over 70 years in Mullinahone in business. My mother, before she got married, had worked at the local post office and her parents had a shop. They were undertakers and they had a horse-drawn hearse and all that. So there was a history there of service to the community," he said.

“I think people probably did take take it for granted, you know. But like if you don't support it, you lose it. It's like the post offices," he added.

Despite the sadness around closing, Paul has very fond memories of his time in the shop. 

He said seeing the local children come in year in and year out from baby infants up to sixth year was particularly special.

"You see the change, like, 'Jesus, look at Tommy there, you know, he's a man. I remember him coming in for his first school uniform and all the bits associated.' Seeing the kids come from primary to the secondary school has been great," Paul said.

Back to school time was definitely up there with some of Paul's favourite memories.

"Preparing for it, having the stock in and getting ready. You could be getting ready for an avalanche. There was one evening there, I said, 'Jesus, there's 40 people in the shop. What am I going to do?' I was on my own and we managed," he said.

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Paul reflected on the fact that this isn't just happening to him but it's happening across rural Ireland as a whole.

More people are heading into bigger towns and cities to do their shopping or else they are doing it online.

"I was away there recently in Galway and just going through the different little villages and seeing all the shops closed up. I said like 'Where are we going to end up in rural Ireland, you know?' Even the churches now are closing up and it's the same for post offices," Paul said.

"I wouldn't be negative locally. I appreciate people going to town. I go to town myself, I'm in town every day. I buy stuff online too but I would support local as well, do you know what I mean? And I feel if you're not being screwed you should support local. It's understandable if locally stuff is very dear," he added.

There's a closing down sale on in the shop running until it's closure at the end of next month. 

Paul says the locals have been great for supporting that and it has been busier than usual with it.

At the age of 61, he added that he's "at the other end of things" now and is okay with the business closing. 

"We all have our health and we're okay," Paul concluded.