When It Comes The Small Greystones Shop – Use It Or Lose It!

It hardly needs to be said, but, thanks to a wonderful, forward-thinking government and a banking system that plainly puts people before profit every time, quite a lot of families and individuals in Ireland have been living through hard times for the last few years.

And the joyous thing about a battered economy is that the rust can last for many years beyond any heralded recovery.

As we all try and find cheaper alternatives for life’s little luxuries, such as food and water, little by Lidl, those ‘Five Knickers, A Chicken & An Inflatable Shed For A Euro’ specials crush the smaller
shops who, rather foolishly, like to pay a decent wage to the person who knit those knickers, or raised that chicken, or was mental enough to manufacture an inflatable shed.

As you walk around Greystones, you can see that rust taking hold of more and more shops. Eugene’s is the last newsagent on the main street, whilst an empty Caviston’s has to look down in envy at all those shiny Happy Pear people chomping down outside their door.
The latest victims are The Steak Shop down by the Garda station and Giorgio’s shoe boutique on Hillside Road. The latter shut up shop for personal reasons, but you only have walk a few doors up to witness shops teetering on the edge. More will follow, as exemplified by the various 50% Off screams in shop windows, often a last shout-out for help.

Shops opening and closing have always been part of every town’s life, but there’s a double-whammy attack on the small roadside business right now – firstly, those loss-leading supermarket specials and, secondly, the rise and rise of internet shopping.

There’s no real need to take out the tiny violin here and unleash a mini-opera to you about the effect the loss of small shops can have on a town, on a community. Suffice to say, at a time when The Irish Times are asking us all to vote for our favourite little shops around the country, you might want to consider actually shopping in a few more of them.

Just imagine the smile on Leo Ireton’s face when you tell him that you can’t wait to get his Branston Pickle inside your ciabatta. That’s got to be worth €2 out of your weekly shop.

You can still get your €2 canoe in Aldi, but giving a local shop even just a fraction of your weekly shop could be the difference between a row of shiny, happy shops or a Greystones main street that looks like Shane MacGowan’s smile.