This article is from page 77 of the 2009-12-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 77 JPG
WHAT to do when recession bites and bites hard?
You could always take the emi- grant’s boat and become another one of the farflung Clare diaspora in some nook or cranny of the globe, but do that and you’d probably find that it’s biting wherever you go to.
Why not go to school on the re- cession instead? Look around the county and beyond and see if there’s a niche business opportunity there, something with recession in mind, but at the same time something that could under the radar of the reces- sion at the same time.
It’s what one enterprising law graduate is about to do this week — it’s not a case of undercutting the bevy of solictors in town by offering legal aid at knockdown prices.
“Knockdown prices yes,’ says Fiona Allen, “but nothing to do with law,” she adds setting out on a ca- reer path totally divergent from the EM
‘I hope and intend to go back into the law,” she says, “but for the time being I think there’s a real niche market out there for vintage design- er clothes in Ennis.
“I know there are other shops out there that you’d call second hand shops, but this is different,” she stresses. “It’s hard to get work in the law at present and I looked at a dif- ferent avenue to explore and came up with this. I always had a huge interest in fashion and felt there was a huge opening in Ennis for a shop that catered for young people interested in vintage and designer clothes at a fraction of what you’d pay on the high street.
“The shop is mixture of vintage used clothes for both men and wom-
en and designer clothes from recent fashion graduates. There are also accessories like shoes, hats and jew- ellery. And all the items are hand- picked, but going around to shops in places like London, Leeds, Bel- fast and Amsterdam — nothing was bought on the internet or from cata- logues,’ she adds.
And, Babylon that’s located in the basement of number two Bank Place also offers something different in
what could be described as a throw- back to different retail times.
“It’s not just clothes on rails,” says Allen, “but it’s like a shop/house with antique furniture, Victorian china and a burning fire going, etc. It’s a little bit different to your or- dinary retail experience. It’s off the beaten track and what people will be able to buy are distintive one-off pieces that you wouldn’t see any- Where else and I’m really looking
forward to the opening this Saturday where there’ll be plenty wine, the burning hot fire and those clothes at knockdown prices.”