Shoe shop veteran quits trade for Olympics 2000

It might seem that a shop that has served its customers for the best part of a century, changing its stock as fashions came and went, might have a dusty storeroom with a treasure-trove of long-forgotten styles, from button boots to winklepickers. But not O'Sullivan's. As experienced retailers, Des and his staff have always been able to shift any amount of slow-moving stock - what is known in the trade as shelf warmers. By the end of each season, there was simply nothing left.

They sold their very last pair of shoes on December 19th and Des even remembers what they were - a pair of size three Clarks, snapped up by an elderly lady for a bargain price of £20.

When Des O'Sullivan's father was stocking his shop on Dublin's Thomas Street, his first customers were fashion conscious flappers looking for the pointy shoes that had become all the rage with ladies who could do the Charleston.

That was in 1921. By the time pointed shoes came back into style in the 1950s, his son was in charge of the well-known Thomas Street shoe shop.

Now Des O'Sullivan is 79 and has decided that it is time to retire, so the large freehold building at 137 Thomas Street is for sale by auction on March 1st. McNally Handy & Partners is handling the sale and the agency is quoting a guide price of "in the region of £400,000" for the 2,540 sq ft double-fronted building.

As Honorary Life President of the Olympic Council of Ireland, Des O'Sullivan wants to spend more time on his sporting interests, including a trip to the Sydney Olympics. He also plans to settle down and write his autobiography.

Des was born shortly after the business opened, and the family, like most traders at the time, lived over the shop. If the 1920s were not the most auspicious time to open a business in Dublin, the hungry 1930s were even worse. Just as business started to pick up at the end of that decade, Mr O'Sullivan senior died and 17-year-old Des started work full-time in the shop.

The business survived during the war years, according to Des, because of the generosity of their suppliers, local manufacturers such as Winstanley in nearby High Street and Clarks in Dundalk.

For the rest of the century, the shop thrived in what was a busy shopping street. Country customers got off the train at Heuston and made their way to Thomas Street in search of bargains. O'Sullivan's competed with 10 other shoe shops on the street.

At a time when customers are transient and staff nearly impossible to get, this 80-year-old family firm can boast one member of staff who has worked there for 34 years, serving customers whose parents and grandparents were regulars.

It might seem that a shop that has served its customers for the best part of a century, changing its stock as fashions came and went, might have a dusty storeroom with a treasure-trove of long-forgotten styles, from button boots to winklepickers. But not O'Sullivan's. As experienced retailers, Des and his staff have always been able to shift any amount of slow-moving stock - what is known in the trade as shelf warmers. By the end of each season, there was simply nothing left.

They sold their very last pair of shoes on December 19th and Des even remembers what they were - a pair of size three Clarks, snapped up by an elderly lady for a bargain price of £20.