Cork’s Roches Stores veterans recall shop that ‘stocked everything’

It may have shut its doors in Cork 10 years ago but Roches Stores is still fondly remembered, and former staff held a reunion on Friday to share memories of the shop in Patrick Street.

It was a store which “stocked anything and everything” and provided a customer care service which is much lamented in the city, particularly among older generations.

Finbarr Buckley, who organised the reunion, said Roches was the type of store where a person could try on a pair of shoes at home and pay later.

“Where else but Roches would that happen? Roches was renowned for its customer service. You could change anything receipt or no receipt.

“I remember the staff in the linen and curtains department being particularly on top on things. They would ask a customer ‘What drop is your curtain?’ And the person wouldn’t know and would give them an answer like ‘You know the houses on the Commons Road’ and the staff would know the measurements from an answer as vague as that.”

William Roche from Killavullen, Co Cork founded Roches Stores in the early 1900s. The first store was a furniture store situated on Merchant Street, where it traded under the name of Cork Furniture Store. The name of the firm was officially changed to Roches Stores in September 1919.

The Roches Stores premises on Saint Patrick’s Street was burned down during the burning of Cork city in December 1920 and, for six months afterwards, trading was carried out from the old premises on Merchant Street.

By the time it sold its business to Debenhams in 2006 the company had 11 stores trading throughout the country.

Mr Buckley said Roches was a store that “did a bit of everything”, although“Roches never advertised. They never got with the times. They were very late with a website or putting goods online. But it always seemed to be busy”.

Mr Buckley said in addition to being a department store Roches Stores in Patrick Street, Cork was a well known meeting place for couples in the pre-mobile phone age.

“I met many a date outside Roches. There was the nerve wracking experience of waiting for a date outside the store’s main door ... whether your date showed up or whether the passing bus conductor indicated she wasn’t going to by writing ‘50’ on the misted passenger window” - a fifty referencing to the experience of being stood up in Cork vernacular.

A reunion to mark the 10th anniversary of the closure of the store took place at Clancy’s bar in Cork on Friday night. Finbarr says the legacy of Roches is in the friendships developed in stores.

Meanwhile, many of the workers face an uncertain future as Debenhams Ireland has gone in to examinership.

Debenhams applied for examinership after suffering consistent losses since the onset of the recession in 2007. Its total revenue for the financial year 2015 was 22 per cent lower than the 2007 figure.

Cork Business Association (CBA) say that Debenhams has a pivotal role on Patrick Street and would be a grievous loss to the city centre in the event of its closure.

Lawrence Owens, CEO of the CBA, who is also a former manager of Roches Stores and Debenhams said he couldn’t overstate the significance of the store to the local economy.

"We obviously don't want to see Debenhams leave - not just Cork, but Ireland. It is currently one of the major retail offerings in the city centre and continues to play an important part in operations in the area. Together with Dunnes, Penneys, Brown Thomas and some others, it is one of the vital retail attractions that draws people into the city."

He said examinership would give Debenhams an opportunity to restructure its operations in Ireland and become more efficient going forward.

Debenhams has experienced losses of €22.6m in the last three years.