Limerick schoolchildren invited to help bookseller celebrate 120th anniversary

A LIMERICK city book store is inviting children to design a card to mark its 120th anniversary.

Founded in 1902 on O'Connell Street by JP O'Mahony, grandfather of current owner Frank, O’Mahony’s Booksellers is one of the largest and oldest bookshops in the country.  

The family business has seen the original store of 450 square feet extend to 16,000 square feet over three floors and expand its reach with branches in University of Limerick, University of Galway, Tralee and Ennis, as well as an online store. 

Because of the diversity of its stocked books, from children’s literature to non-fiction and specialist genres, the bookseller has a very broad customer base across Ireland.

Limerick book shop stands the test of time and is ready for the next chapter

As part of its celebrations, O’Mahony’s are inviting primary school children to design a birthday card for the store. Limerick primary schools are being sent packs and the children will have until December 31 to submit their creations – the packs are also available in-store.

The pupil who designs the winning card and their teacher will each receive a €120 gift card, and runner-up prizes of €10 gift cards will be awarded to 50 students. 

Competing against online giants like Amazon, running an independent bookshop is no small feat. Frank O’Mahony commented on Irish people’s love for books – despite being in the age of digitisation:

 “Browsing, choosing, buying, gifting and reading them. The retail experience is very important and is a constant focus for us. We are more than just a bookstore, and it has been one of our main distinguishing factors. In saying that, our online store is performing really well and allows us to cater for our customer base right across Ireland.”

“Our ongoing success can also be attributed to our unrivalled customer range and our wonderful staff. We are proud to stock the largest selection of serious non-fiction and specialist books outside of Dublin, which is backed-up by the wealth of knowledge of our staff. I would like to thank them and our loyal customers for their support throughout the years. We look forward to being around for the next few hundred years,” he added.