After 77 years in south Kerry, it’s a sweet goodbye for popular shop
The KerrymanIn Cahersiveen, a trip to the Banks is a rite of passage.
A visit to the general store famed for penny-sweets and whipped ice-cream is often the first purchase made by children in the small Kerry town and has been for generations.
On Friday, the general store known simply as ‘the Banks’ shut its doors after 77 years of trade. Alma Banks, who turns 74 this week, is retiring after decades devoted to the family business.
The shop stands opposite the Cahersiveen Community Centre and its one-room courthouse. Since the 1940s, it has attracted out-of-town solicitors visiting for District Court sessions, continental tourists driving the Ring of Kerry and generations of loyal customers.
“I loved meeting my customers every morning,” said Ms Banks, a few days after retirement. “The first one in the door, that was the start of the day then. You knew what time people were coming in and it was just a lovely experience to have lived, I must admit.”
Her parents and one-year-old sister moved from Dublin to run the shop in 1948. She was born a few months later, in a bedroom above the shop.
Her parents took over the shop from an uncle at a time when the Atlantic town was full of draperies, confectionaries and bakeries. They quickly established a grocery known for groceries and a few small luxuries, like buns from Cork, Fuller’s cakes from Dublin and dried fruit at Christmas.
Over the years, it was penny sweets and whipped ice cream that made Banks an obligatory stop for children after sports and music events.
“For most of the kids around, it was the first time they knew the value of money,” said Frances O’Connell (77), a lifelong family friend. “They got their Euro or pence and they would go to the Banks.”
Ms Banks and her sister grew up above the shop. After the death of their mother, they attended boarding school in Dublin and returned on holidays, always at hand to help their father.
“Well, if you live in a shop, you’re always helping out, aren’t ya? 'You’re there, stand there for a minute, while I go upstairs for a minute’. I wasn’t asked to do an awful lot, he didn’t make us feel that we had to work in the shop, ever.”
“Then I went off working in Dublin and did what all young people do and eventually came back and settled in Cahersiveen,” said Ms Banks.
When her father Terry died at the young age of 62, she took over the business and lived on the property with her partner Bill and daughters Amy and Zita.
Ms Bank opened the shop, from 8.30am until 8.30pm, seven days a week. She hung her father’s portrait behind the till.
Times changed but Banks did not. At least not much. When large supermarkets opened and demand for groceries dropped, Ms Banks added souvenirs like Skellig Chocolate, Cahersiveen road signs, Ring of Kerry keychains and little plush lambs.
Her summer window display was an assortment of plush sheep and with Daniel O’Connell bunting.
For the town, Banks became a third space.
“It was just one of those old shops, where you got the personal attention,” said Mary Casey ‘The Harp’ (75), a family friend. “She was just very kind to all the children and she was just as kind to the older people, she would do anything for them. It’s just an institution gone from the town.”
Last Friday, Ms Banks prepared for her final business day by making some cakes and sandwiches to thank regulars.
But she was the one to receive thanks. That afternoon, a crowd of friends and faithful customers swooped on the shop to wish her joy in retirement.
“I’m actually floored by it all,” she said. “They arrived outside the door with music and cakes and balloons and I didn’t know anything about it at all.”
Days later, the shop is still filled with cards and flowers. “My shop is like a florist shop,” Ms Banks told me on Tuesday.
In retirement, she plans to visit her daughters at their homes in Dublin and the Netherlands.
She has no plans yet for a shop remodel.
“It’ll be easy to do something with, it’s my home and I’m not going away,” said Ms Banks. “I will do the Christmas window [display] again this year, of course. I have two huge, big windows.”
“I’m very happy to be where I am,” she added. “I think I made the right decision, I have no regrets. I have such wonderful customers. I can’t thank all the people who have been in and out and generously thanked me for my years in the shop.”