SLIDESHOW: End of an era for Limerick shopkeeper following 44 years in business

FORTY four years of serving across the counter in Broadford’s only shop came to an end at 4pm yesterday for Tom Moloney and his family.

But happily for this West Limerick community, the doors opened again at 8am this Wednesday morning when new owners, Dan Moloney and his family took over.

Yesterday afternoon, scores of men, women and children waited patiently outside The Shop for Tom, Bernadette and their sons Eddie and Thomas to emerge for the last time and turn the key on decades of a family business that had served the community well. 

“This is a big day in the village of Broadford,” Mary Lee Geary, chairperson of Broadford Development Association told the crowd when the cheers had died down. “We really are very very sad. They have been a constant in the village for the past 44 years.” 

“No matter what hour of the day you came up, Tom was there in the shop. We really appreciate everything ye have done for the community.”

Tom, she added, had served, grandparents, parents and children down the years and had also given employment to many. “He can now get back to his writing,” she said.

Tom has published two collections of poems and his first venture into prose was published in 2015. 

Ms Lee Geary thanked the family for their generosity in sponsoring events large and small in the village and thanked Bernadette for her membership of so many committees. 

Presentations were made on behalf of the community by Ita O’Keeffe and Kitty Duggan, by Emma O’Kelly on behalf of all the children, by Simon Lenihan of the soccer club and by Julie Moloney on behalf of the new owners. 

“We are very, very fortunate the shop is continuing,” Ms Lee Geary said and she welcomed the Moloney family from Abbeyfeale in their new venture in Broadford. 

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