This article is from page 8 of the 2012-10-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
IT’S the end of an era in Ennis after well-known businessman Jimmy Brohan retired after 49 years in business. Jimmy has decided to step away from his hardware business on Parnell Street. The premises will be taken over by new Clare owners. Family, friends and a large group of traders gathered in O’Halloran’s Bar last Thursday for a presentation to mark Jimmy’s 49 years in business. A native of Ruan, Jimmy started out at John Roughan’s store just off O’Connell Square in 1963. He worked there for 20 years before leasing and eventually buying the premises in the mid-1980s. An incident in the year 2000 damaged the building and forced the relocation of Brohan’s to Parnell Street. In an interview with the paper last year, Jimmy spoke about the skills needed to run a successful business. He said, “One secret is that you have to be nice to people. If you’re nice to people and treat them right, they will come back to you. We have people coming to us since I started and now their family are coming (to us). Only for them we wouldn’t be here. “We do a good town trade but we get a good country trade as well. We get them from other counties too. A few years ago, you’d have people from Cork on the way to Knock, busloads, they would always call to me on the way back.” A family-run business, Brohan’s is known for having a wide collection of stock. Jimmy said, “People still come to me with the old spraying cans, copper spraying cans that the farmers would use. They weren’t made for 30 years or more but I still have bits and pieces for those. That’s just one item. There would be lots of other bits and pieces that people come to us looking for. I don’t care how old it is, I love to have it.”