A FAMILY-OWNED tobacconist business that has been in operation for more than 100 years in Cork city has closed.
MP O’Sullivan was founded by Patrick O’Sullivan in 1905 when he opened his first shop on Princes Street.
He launched the Red Abbey tobacco factory on Mary Street in Cork in 1927, which was famous for manufacturing the Coupon Plug brand.
The family subsequently moved in to the wholesale and grocery sector.
This section of the business is thriving and is not affected by the closure of the tobacco outlet.
James O’Sullivan, joint director of the business with his brother Pat, says he regrets having to close the family’s last surviving tobacco shop, which is based on Academy Street.
“It is the end of an era really because my grandfather started the business in 1905.
“It was one of the last bastions for smokers in Munster,” he says.
“But there has been a plethora of legislation regarding tobacco.
“You cannot even display it in the window. It is hard to run a shop when you have to hide the cigars out the back. It is like going in to a bakery where the bread is behind a curtain,” he says.
“A tobacco shop without a display is doomed. We started with the tobacco shop in Princes Street in 1905 and we moved to Academy Street in 1990. We have resisted and resisted closing it. One of our employees has worked with us for 25 years.”
Mr O’Sullivan attributes the closure of the shop, with the loss of two jobs, to a general fall-off of sales in tobacco products as a result of tax increases. He also cites the impact of the economic downturn.
He says the whole culture in Ireland in relation to smoking has also changed.
“You could be watching something like the Late Late years ago and the audience would be smoking. I remember people flicking their heads in to the shop just for a smell.
“So there is a nostalgia there. There was a few tobacconists in Cork such as Martins and Jack Lyons in Maylor Street.
“We manufactured tobacco up to 1978-79. There was a lot of people employed in the tobacco factory. It is sad to see [Academy Street] go.”
The family’s core business, the fourth generation wholesale cash-and-carry at Sarsfield Road in Wilton, Cork, will not be affected and will continue to employ almost 50 people.