Last day of trading at Rochforts
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Members of the Nally family, Dawn Nally, Avril Kelly, Sheila Nally, Tom Nally, Emer Nally and Tomás Nally.Image 2 of 5
Working behind the till on the final day of trading at Rochforts Superstore were Martin Mulligan, Helena Dunne, Torie Dunne, Roisín Fox and Clíodhna Murray.Image 3 of 5
Tomás Nally of Rochforts Superstore, on Friday afternoon with John Bawle (left), Jason McKevitt and James Bourke.Image 4 of 5
Nally cousins – Vonie O’Rourke, Anne Doherty, Yvonne Carey and Valerie Reilly, who were all former staff at the shop.Image 5 of 5
Tomás Nally pictured with staff Torie Dunne, Clíodhna Murray, Helena Dunne, Dylan McKeown and Rachel Collins.There were 99s for everyone from 3pm on Friday at Rochforts Superstore on Dominick Street, Mullingar. The reason was that Friday was the last day of trading at the shop, and the Nally family were marking the occasion and thanking their customers for their loyalty over their half century of running the business.
As Tomás Nally told the Examiner, their business is not closing – it’s going online (as announced and reported in June).
They held a clearance sale in the physical shop ahead of its closure on Friday, and the shelves were largely empty, which somehow matched the definite end of an era feel as family, friends and customers mingled over ice cream and shared stories and thanks.
Sheila Nally told the Examiner that she remembered one year when they had 1,000 names in their books for Christmas shopping, a system that facilitated people to pay week by week for toys and other gifts in the lead-up to Christmas, while a group of the Nallys’ cousins who “served their time” working the shop had fond memories, but didn’t want to share the more interesting ones!
Tommy Nally said he was looking forward to having more time for his two-mile daily walks, and “Rosary beads – that’s all I can do at this stage!”.
Tomás Nally said: “We just want to say thank-you to all the people of Mullingar. It’s been a phenomenal response to us closing. We’re not closing closing, we’re going online, it’s a transition.
“But thank you to everybody who has made Rochforts what it is and put it where it is. The amount of support means it has been very emotional today, but things change, and we’re ready for change.
“We’re not gone, just gone to a different way of being. Thank you to everybody, it means an awful lot.”