Killiney Stores closes its doors for last time

It’s the end of an era at Killiney Stores on the corner of Strathmore Road and Killiney Hill Road. The landmark shop with its sunny deck out front shuttered its doors for the final time in recent weeks.

The well-known shop has been in the Clarke family since 1963 when newly-weds Tom and Rosaline Clarke took over what was Bayview Stores run by Messers Rush. Back then the village also had another shop-cum-post office, two restaurants and a pub, the landmark Druid’s Chair which is still in operation.

Tom himself painted the green wood letters of the sign that still hangs over the door and they stocked all the essentials families might need in the days before supermarkets, recalls Michael Clarke, the youngest of five sons who all worked behind the counter.

Clarke recalls the big rush on a summer’s day after the number 59 bus dropped daytrippers outside. Headed for the shingle strand below, they would queue up for a wafer slice, cut straight from a block of ice-cream.

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Music royalty

Celebrities too would amble in. "Neil Young came in to buy sweets and minerals for his kids, who were waiting in a limo outside." Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott, Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr and Island Records founder Chris Blackwell were just some of the music royalty to cross the threshold. And there were actors too, including Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson, Jeff Bridges, Pierce Brosnan, Cillian Murphy and Frances McDormand. In addition to the shop and store to its rear there is a kitchen, separate livingroom and family room.

The sizeable double-fronted Victorian has four good-sized bedrooms, three of which have sea views. The 154sq m (1,650sq ft) property, has a small courtyard to the rear (with sea views when the back door is open). A new owner could install a glass wall here to better enjoy the vista.

The asking price to set up shop here is €620,000 through agent Sherry FitzGerald and while annual rates are an additional €1,400, the property could be converted to residential use, subject to planning.