Liberty Market – easy on the wallet and heavy on the charm

From the outside, the building looks like every other shop along the street. But once you enter the Liberty Market you will find a huge hall filled with multi-coloured, overcrowded booths, people bustling through the narrow corridors and sales assistants waiting to chat with the customers to sell their products. The Liberty Market opened its doors on Meath Street 36 years ago. Since then a great range of different products have always been on offer for the people shopping there.

“It is one of the oldest indoor markets in Dublin,” says Sean Keogh, a salesperson at the Liberty Market. “You will find excellent commodities and you can get nearly everything here.” The products available range from clothes, sportswear and shoes to toys, postcards, furniture and jewellery.  The prices there are very cheap. Fashionable shoes are available for €5, clothes range from €5 onwards and the jewellery is even cheaper.  As Gerry O’Neill, who has been working at the market for years, explains, “You don’t have big overheads, so you can sell the products cheaper.”

A place to meet the locals

That might be the reason why a lot of people go there every week when the market opens its doors every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. “You have a steady flow of people here every week, even in tough times,” says Gerry. “About 80 per cent of them are local people. But especially in the holiday seasons they are coming from all over the country.”

Even if you are not looking for something special, the market is a perfect place to meet local people and to have a chat about what is going on in the area.

Customer’s opinions about  Liberty Market

Michelle O’Brian: “I am living in the Liberties and I have been shopping here for years. It has a great atmosphere. I usually buy dresses, tops and handbags- whatever I can get.”

Bridget Moriarty: “I am here as often as I can get here- it’s in my roots. All my family lived in the Liberties. I like to meet the people and love the atmosphere. People are friendlier and the prices are better than other places.”

Sales assistants’ opinions

Allan Swan has sold clothes and sportswear in the Liberty Market for 25 years. “I love coming in to get started because the people are so nice. You have different people in all the time.”

Sean Keogh is a sales assistant from the Liberties and started working at the market twelve years ago: “The area of the Liberties is one of the oldest in Dublin and the people are absolutely fantastic.”