The culmination of stories in one street
Francis Street has been called Dublin’s Antique Quarter ever since 2003. It houses well-established antique shops, galleries, and vintage shops.
Though it was only labelled the Antique Quarter in the early 2000s, a shop owner in Francis Street, Niall Mullen, tells The Liberty that it’s been a centre for the trade since the 1970s.
“What normally happens is one person opens an antique shop and then somebody else, and then it just grows,” he says. “So, it just happened.”
There are currently 60 known antique shops all across Ireland and 18 of those are from Francis Street.
Esther Sexton has been in business on Francis Street for nearly 40 years.
Sexton’s shop is filled with well-crafted furnishings with some being centuries old. With decades of experience, she has gained general knowledge of certain items.
“You’ll learn something every day, you might see something you have never seen before. So, you’ve got to find out about it. I’ve got a very curious brain, and I want to learn.”
Sexton’s antique shop was inspired by her own fondness for antiques. “I was interested in furnishing my own house, and I like antiques, I grew up with them, so I started to learn about antiques and that’s what I want to put in my home.”
Francis Street has been through several refurbishments in the past few years and with these changes come challenges for the businesses in the area.
Sexton says that the refurbishments in the street, particularly the reduction in parking spaces, didn’t help her business at all.
However, she also suggests there is a generational change that affects the trade. Today’s young people “aren’t interested in antiques”, she says.
“They’ll talk green, but they don’t buy green.”
Esther Sexton
Niall Mullen Antique Gallery, in business since 2011, sells beautiful portraits and antiques.
That might make him a relative newcomer, but Mullen has been working for antique shops for 35 years and was always interested in antiques.
“My career has been antiques and this has been my life,” he says. Since he was young, he has always considered antiques as his passion.
Every item in his shop was bought by him from other shops locally and abroad – specifically, he is interested in Art Deco.
For Mullen, antiques are more than just items. “A lot of them are unique, a lot of them are made to be around forever. They’re not like disposable furniture. antiques were made in a different era, when the craftsmanship was very different when the styles were far more iconic. The use of timbers – you don’t get those timbers anymore. They’re extinct.”
The items in an antique shop were made to be passed down for generations, Mullen says.
What about Francis Street’s ‘improvements’? “Although the beginning process of the refurbishments was rough, you can’t make an omelet without breaking the eggs,” Mullen says. “It made it into a much nicer place to visit and the footpaths are wider, and they put nice trees and benches in it. it’s an improvement from what Francis Street used to look like.”
Mullen’s shop also faces a decrease in customers, he says. “Most people do a lot of their activities online. They don’t go to shops anymore. People have stopped coming into shops because life moves faster, and people don’t have time, so they do what they need to do online.”
To keep us, Niall Mullen Antique Gallery has an online shop.
Although faced with problems of the changing market and public interest Mu,llen doesn’t dwell on what the future holds for his business.
“As long as the shop looks well, it’s well stocked, it’s well-lit, everything will be ok”
Niall Mullen
© 2013, TheLiberty.ie, unless otherwise stated.
Log in- Posts - Add New - Powered by WordPress - Designed by Gabfire Themes