‘Sales flooded in’: How a small boutique coped with lockdown

Quack and Dirk is a small boutique nestled down a little lane in Fairview, Dublin, owned by Deids Mahon aka Dirk and her best friend Quacks.

“My business was inviting, hands-on and busy before the lockdown struck. I loved greeting everyone with a smile and chatting with them on their visits. We’d talk through what they needed outfit wise and what was going on in their life. I’d get them sorted for their new job/first date/holidays abroad, whatever was coming up.

“I always had a functioning website but never had a huge amount of sales from it. I had my website more for convenience to offer the flexibility to my customers. The first thing I did was update my online presence. I spent some long days photographing and getting everything online, right down to my cute accessories. My husband built me a new website which is much more user-friendly and can take my entire stock. With the physical shop being closed, all my sales had to come through my new website so I made sure to try and give my customers the ‘one-on-one’ service online. Customers felt free to ring me and could get me through email or Instagram. I made sure to reply within two hours giving my honest advice.

“Like most people these days, my family and I are environmentally conscience. We’ve always cycled where possible and this is where my idea of bike deliveries came from. For the first lockdown, I offered my customers free bike deliveries within my 5km. The uptake was amazing. Sales flooded in and I found myself on my bike for two to three hours per day. The exercise kept me happy and I really enjoyed saying hello to my customers at their doorstep. Some days my kids and husband would help. With schools being closed, it was a great focus for my children. I worked late most evenings packing up parcels and updating the website.

“I find I’m more efficient with my time now, the physical shop has a steady stream of customers and I’ve kept up my bicycle deliveries on my commute to and from work. It’s great being able to pick up the kids from school and be home to make dinner.

“Since reopening, I’ve reduced my shop opening hours by nearly half. The website is still very busy and the shop is back to being its usual happy place. I have no solid plans for the future. I will wait to see how everything pans out. I would love to keep my opening hours short. I feel there’s not as much pressure as there was before, everyone is very understanding,” she says.