FAMILY BUSINESS CLOSES AFTER 80 YEARS

- Hickey’s convenience store and petrol station closes down -

The Ballyhooly convenience shop and filling station has been in Denis Hickey’s family for three generations, to be more exact, for no less than 80 years. It has closed its doors now and for many Ballyhooly residents with a soft spot for the shop, its staff and owners, the day has been an emotional one filled with good memories, good chats and good wine.

“It is time to move on”, Mr. Hickey said. “We knew this day was coming. My grandmother started the shop about 80 years ago. It started as a general convenience shop. When my mother and father took over, an extension to the building was added and the services extended to offering grocery and hardware and a petrol station was added’.

Mr Hickey started managing the shop 32 years ago when this was just one of four or five other shops in the village.

“Things have changed dramatically through the years. Attitudes have changed. People are travelling more - they don’t stay in one place anymore".

Irish society is changing at such a fast pace. Where the village used to have only 200 inhabitants in the past, it now houses more than 400 and it is expected to double its size to between 800 and 1,000 in the near future. New housing estates are going up all the time. Still, with all this increase in population, Hickeys Londis Shop was the only shop left in the village, ‘the centre of the community’.

“People would meet here and have chats’, Denis says and good relationships were developed through the years. Breda O’Neill was a staff member at Hickey’s for 25 years and she loved her time there.

“It was a happy time and the shop meant a lot to the community. It was an emotional moment when the store closed its doors,” she admits. The Hickeys were very much a part of the community, sponsoring GAA and golf events as well as getting involved in Neighbourhood Watch and the Trout Angling Association, of which Denis is a member.

A chapter in the Hickey family is closing and another one is about to begin. A change of course will see the shop remaining but under new ownership. It is due to reopen in a few weeks, having been bought by Amber Oil.

Pondering over all the good times he had through the years as the shop’s owner, Denis Hickey would like to thank his loyal customers and staff, without whose help and support his shop would have stopped operating a long time ago.

We wish Denis and his wife Bernie the very best in their retirement.

 

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