Here Today but, alas, gone after tomorrow

After 24 years in business, Dublin's most distinctive fruit and vegetable shop, Here Today, will be gone after tomorrow.

Its owner, Mr Declan Tiernan, has sold the shop to Briarglen Ltd, the company which plans to redevelop this stretch of South Anne Street.

He recalled yesterday that Here Today was the first to import mangoes, then an exotic fruit. "Out of the case of six, we sold three, ate one and two went off", he said. "Now we do about 40 boxes of mangoes a week."

He has observed our preferences for fruit and vegetables change over the years. Anything other than white button mushrooms would have been regarded as exotic in the past; now, all sorts of mushrooms are in demand.

"Courgettes were exotic when we first opened this shop 24 years ago. It was even illegal to import iceberg lettuce because of fears about the Colorado beetle. And none of the shops in the Grafton Street area opened on Saturdays."

He believes that foreign holidays and eating out in more interesting restaurants have made a big difference to people's tastes. Equally, however, some fruits - such as rhubarb, gooseberries and marmalade oranges - are no longer in great demand.

According to Mr Tiernan, some of the shops in the area were dubious about something as common as a fruit and vegetable shop setting up in South Anne Street. But the shop soon acquired a large clientele. "People need to eat every day - they don't have to buy jewellery every day," he said.

"And very few of the 70 businesses that were in South Anne Street when we moved in are still trading. Of the original lot, I would say there are only about four or five left."

He is concerned that high rents are forcing smaller shops to move out of the city centre. "It does change the whole fabric of the city. The basic identity of the place changes and becomes sterile, like anywhere else."

Others due to close down include Deegan's newsagents - one of the few in Dublin to retain its original cluttered layout - which has been in business in South Anne Street since 1925.

Mr Tiernan is relocating to Little Green Street, in the Markets area, where Here Today has been running its wholesale business since 1990. He is hosting a closing-down party for his loyal customers in the shop tomorrow evening, and hopes that some of them will follow him across the Liffey.