‘There is nothing quite like the heart of Limerick city’

IT IS often said you can measure the quality of an establishment by the number of locals who shop there.

That is certainly the case with Sinead and Helena Roche’s two award-winning MACE branches in the city centre.

Retail staff working at shops all around the “food emporium” in Catherine Street/Thomas Street drop in for their lunch, dinner, a snack, or a cake and a coffee throughout the day.

“Everyone in retail locally comes into the store, and we feed them. That’s not a boast, that is reality,” Sinead tells me, as she greets an employee of Brown Thomas who had popped in for lunch himself.

“We have the local businesses who have been in the city for years. We have O’Connell’s, the butchers, Silkes, we have O’Donnell Boutique. A big customer for us is Be Fabulous and Will. All the people who are part of the history of the city - Keanes Jewellers, Matthew Stephens, Duggan Glass, and Mike O’Connell Menswear,” Sinead enthused.

“For us, we love being able to service them back - as they service us. I think giving back is the key,” she added.

Sinead has another shop in the city centre, MACE in Upper William Street, which she took over last year, and opens late to serve those living in the nearby apartments.

Between the two shops, the Shanagolden businesswoman employs 52 local people.

She is an unashamed champion of the city centre, saying: “The city is where things are alive. It’s so exciting”.

“The city is the place to be for Christmas. We have a lot to be proud of. There is nothing like the heart of the city.”

Sinead’s family have served the county since 1984.

Her mum and dad’s original store in Shanagolden is still open to this day, and there is another outlet in Kildimo.

“My mum and dad started the business in a filling station then. We have carried on the tradition of serving the community. That’s what we are about. The customer has to be looked after. It goes back to the old values of respecting people, understanding what they want and being open seven days a week to give a service.”

What is unique about MACE in Catherine Street/Thomas Street is that it is designed in the format of a “food emporium”, as

Sinead describes it, with lots of different cuisines on offer.

Chopped offers hot and cold healthy produce, Wok to Go is the place to be for Asian street food.

For Food’s Sake Deli serves hot food of all kinds throughout the day and into the evening.

There's also an Insomnia branch.

“We also have a very strong grab-and-go section for people who don’t want to wait. That’s very important to us, helping people who are in a rush in the city.

“We’d cater for everyone - people in a hurry, people who want to sit down and enjoy their food, or those who want to take it to their offices,” Sinead explains.

The businesswoman opened the shop in 2018 in a unit which was vacant for a decade previously, and has transformed it into the emporium which we see today.

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“We are a family run business. But within here, we designed it with an idea for catering to all tastes and for a variety of tastes,” she said.

The efforts of the staff at MACE have been recognised with two awards at the Shelf Life awards, which are widely considered to be the Oscars of the Irish retail industry.

On top of this, Catherine Markham won the title of delicatessen food manager of the year, something Sinead and her colleagues are very proud of.

There is no room for complacency, though, Mark Ryan, the general manager of the four MACE Roche’s stores said.

“We don't take these awards for granted, we don't take our customers for granted. We know if we don't continue to work on improving the store, improving the range, providing fresh ideas and fresh thinking, we are at nothing. That's what people need. If you get complacent and you get stale, then you won't have people coming back in,” he said.

Sinead acknowledges there have been tough moments in the last five years - most notably, the Covid-19 pandemic.

“There was tumbleweed going through the city in the middle of this. We were among the only people who opened religiously.

We looked after a lot of the health workers in the city. It was a really tough time. We stayed strong. We could have decided to throw in the towel. But I think we have more respect for the services within the city and our staff,” she said.

One thing she would love to see is more people living in the city centre, saying: “We are very much a retail city, not a living retail city. We need to be a living retail city. In different cities, that's what brings it alive”.

The overriding feeling from Sinead is pride in the city centre.

“We are vibrant, we are clean, we are happy. We want to be here, and we are happy to be here,” she smiled.