Derry’s famous McLaughlin’s Hardware Store is ringing the till for the last time

Derry Journal

Transcript

00:00It's the end of an era, I think it must be a mixed emotions for you after 111 years that

00:06shutters are finally going to be pulled. Like it is, you know, it's been good for everybody

00:12with loads of support from the customers, great staff over the years and we're very humbled,

00:17you know, because we're getting a lot of people coming in and they're, you know,

00:20dancing and complimenting us and they're all saying how sorry they are, you know, that the

00:25shop is closing, but we've decided to retire the three of us. The shop is actually going pretty

00:34well, it's always gone well, you know. And the customers certainly looked after us as well,

00:38you know, they were so loyal and up to, even up until the present time, they're coming in

00:44and wishing you well and telling you their stories, you know, about what it means to them.

00:50And you think about Derry, everybody in Derry is walking around with keys out of here,

00:54like, you know, in their pockets, like, you know. There is a sense of sadness, I've had people

00:59tell me they could nearly cry that the McLaughlin's is going to be closing. There is people coming in

01:03and their eyes full of tears, you know, after a year of that length of time and we've all had

01:11good customers and good service and we're all proud to be part of that history of this great city.

01:19And people are coming in and telling me stories, you know, about how their mother had a book in

01:24the shop and the fella was getting a wee start maybe as a bricklayer and he had no tools,

01:31so he came in with my father and he said, look, Michael, I can get a job on Monday.

01:35Yeah.

01:35A dentist, bricklayer, can I get a trowel from my father, whatever, he said, aye,

01:39put it on your mother's book and that's fine. And he got the trowel and the pins and the level and

01:45everything that he needed to start that Monday, you know, and came in and paid it off every week.

01:51That was an all our loyal customer, like, you know, it's an all our generation of loyal customers.

01:54That's how it was done, that's how the community and the shop like this worked and existed.

02:02We didn't have one without the other.

02:04It must be gratifying for you, the warmth that has been expressed towards it, like,

02:08and towards yourselves, like, from so many customers, old customers and people that have

02:13been coming in here all their lives, like, you know, through generations, through your own people before that.

02:18It's lovely to hear that, you know, and all the compliments you get and

02:21we talk about the father and the uncle Jim and all their family over the years that

02:26were so good to people in the early days and, you know, they went through the troubles and

02:30things were difficult and but they were very strong people and they kept going and that's

02:35why we're still here, you know, today and we lasted through that time.

02:39Over all the years, you could go right from the start and the grandfather time, everything,

02:43we did very well and through the troubles and the rebuild and the shop up to this today

02:49has been successful, Kevin, the whole way through.

02:52It started going out very, very quickly because there's a lot of customers coming in and they're

02:55coming in saying, I'm buying, coming in here to get the fire grate before you close up.

02:59Before it's gone, yeah, yeah.

03:00The old hardware and stuff that doesn't disintegrate after five minutes, like.

03:05Exactly, you know, and there's some nice stories about how they bought maybe a cooking pot like

03:1040 years ago and the grandchildren are using it in the curry.

03:14Used to be for soup but now it's for curry.

03:16There was always a thing about quality, about people coming in and getting good quality,

03:20whether it be in the house where they're literally getting nice saucepans in there

03:24but it was all about the quality and you knew at the end of the year the quality was good.

03:29Things wouldn't fall apart.

03:30No, it wouldn't fall apart and you'd hear wee stories but

03:33the same pot in the family for, you know, 50 years or something.

03:38Aye, you know, they were good times.

03:41And what about your own plans now?

03:44Just take it easy?

03:46Well, I can just, well, just take it easy now, you know, Christmas round the corner

03:50and see how that pans out and the end of the new year and figure out what I'm going to do.

03:55I know, keep yourself busy, like.

03:57That's it, aye.

03:57Well, aye.

03:58It'll be strange not having a Christmas, you know, not having a Christmas in the shop, you know,

04:03and it's going to be strange not getting up and coming to Wigan Street in the morning.

04:08Liam's done it for 52 years, Jesse's done it for 51 and I've done it for 40, so.

04:14It's a lifetime, like.

04:15It's a lifetime, you know, but it's enjoyable.

04:17Part of the fabric is part of town, like, you know.

04:18Part of town, you know.

04:20And the staff, like, too, the staff have all been great, you know, they're all here long term and

04:25it really looks, they're all accustomed as our friends, as Julie said in one of my reports,

04:31she said, you know, she enjoys it, the customers are her friends, you know, they come in to see her.

04:35It's a personal touch, like.

04:37Yeah.

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