Rosie's 40 years behind the counter celebrated in style!
“I could be 30 feet tall this week after the many lovely things I heard about myself over the weekend,” laughs Rosie Rohan, who has spent the last 40 years behind the counter of the only shop in the internationally-renowned village of Ballinahown.
Rosie describes as “out of this world” a surprise get-together which was organised on Saturday night last by the members of Ballinahown Community Development in the local Village Inn to mark the major 40-year milestone of Rosie's Shop in the village and admits she was “blown away” by the fuss that everyone made of her.
The hugely-popular business owner was presented with a specially-commissioned piece of bog oak, created locally in the Celtic Roots Studio, which movingly described her as 'The Big Heart of Our Small Village.'
“When Michéal Coughlan got up to speak he gave such a great spiel about me that I could be 30 feet tall this week,” she says, “it was a great weekend and I am really so grateful to each and every person who had a hand in organising such a wonderful night.”
Rosie Rohan has lived in Ballinahown village since she was 11 years old, and while becoming a business owner was never really on her radar, she took over the running of the local village shop on July 19, 1985 when Alo and Nancy Kelly advertised the business for sale, and she has been there ever since.
With a limited amount of experience working as a shop assistant in various businesses around the Athlone area, Rosie says it was “a different story” when she took over the local shop in Ballinahown, but she got plenty of help from her nieces, nephews and other family members in the early days. She has also been blessed with “great staff” over the years, including Bridget Smith, who has worked alongside her for the past 24 years.
Today, Rosie's Shop sells “a little bit of everything” as she describes it, and is open six and a half days a week, from 8.30am to 6.30pm from Monday to Saturday and 9am to 1.30pm on Sundays. With the long hours she jokes she she is “nearly married to the place” at this stage, and says it “could be the reason” she never got married. “I never had the time,” she laughs.
Nevertheless, she says it has been “a great life” and she is hopeful of having “plenty more years” behind the counter serving her loyal customers and also the many passers-by who drop in on a regular basis. “Nearly everyone who drops in when they are passing through the village expresses surprise that there is still a shop like this in existence,” says Rosie Rohan, “since there are very few independent shops left anywhere in Ireland at this stage.
Rosie is now serving the second, and even the third, generation of families in her shop 40 years later, and says she has seen “many changes” over the years, including saying a final farewell to many loyal customers who have passed away.
She is “deeply grateful” to still have a loyal customer base after four decades, and to get to live and work in what she describes as “the wonderful community” that is Ballinahown. “I got loads of cards and a whole roomful of flowers over the weekend, so I fell very blessed and lucky,” she says, “and please God I'll get my health to continue for a few more years anyway.”
In a touching Facebook tribute this week, Ballinahown Community Development paid a warm tribute to Rosie's Shop, describing it as “the heart of the village” and “a gathering space for the community.”