Reuniting Roches Stores’ staff

Roches Stores in Patrick’s Street closed its doors almost 20 years ago, but the memories of Cork’s iconic shop still remain in the hearts and minds of staff and customers.

Finbarr McCarthy, a long-serving employee who worked in Roches from 1978 to 2005, has organised a reunion for staff that will take place in John O’Sullivan’s Bar & Restaurant on Friday 17 November and he is encouraging all former staff members to come along.

Speaking about his time at the store, Finabrr said that the staff were like family. “I joined the soccer team, I was involved in all the social functions, I went to everybody’s 21st and weddings, it was very much a family orientated shop. We would support each other through sad and happy times,” he said.

Roches Stores was founded in Cork in 1901 by William Roche, the son of a farmer from north county Cork, and in 1919, Roche moved the business to Patrick Street, which was to be the flagship store until it was sold to Debenhams in 2006.

According to Finbarr, Roches was more than just a shop to the people of Cork, and when it ceased trading, it was sorely missed.

“The people of Cork lamented the passing of Roches Stores,” said Finbarr. “There’s no place like it. You could go in there, and you’d be looked after very well. Any sales assistant knew their job and they’d give you good service.”

“Roches reached out to the people of Cork, not just on the business end but also with social interaction. The Roches staff were very well trained, the customer was number one, there’s no way you’d turn your back on, or talk about a customer, no matter what they’d say to you,” he said.

The staff possessed a deep understanding of Cork and the customers' needs, and they consistently went above and beyond, says Finbarr. “People would come in looking for their curtains with no measurements, and Grainne, who was the sales assistant would ask them ‘Where are you living?’ and they would say ‘I live in this particular estate in Douglas’ and she would say ‘That’s grand, you need 90x90 curtains.’ That’s the kind of knowledge the sales assistants had!”

And the outstanding customer didn’t stop at curtains either. “There was also a man who sent in a piece of twine to Pat O’Sullivan, which gave the measurement of his inner leg and his waist, and asked him to make up a suit from that. Where would you get that these days?” he said.

Finbarr says that for many older people, Roches Stores offered them some welcome social interaction too. “We’d have a lot of the same customers coming every day, but I know they’d only want a bit of a chat, they were elderly people who were living alone.”

Finbarr says that he still misses Roches Stores and is looking forward to reconnecting with all the friends he made at his time at Roches.

“We are all set for it. And with the response I’ve got, we might not even have enough space there!” he said.