Blow for Athlone's Connaught Street as Dunning's butchers to close
The retail landscape of Connaught Street on the west side of Athlone has suffered another major blow with the news that Dunning's butcher shop is to close its doors for the final time at the end of this month.
The hugely-popular family business, which has been trading from its original premises for over half a century, is one of the few remaining retail outlets on the street.
Its closure is a further setback for business life on the west side of the town, following on from the closure of another stalwart family business at the end of last year, Grenham Travel, which had been operating for more than a century.
Bernie Dunning, who started working in the family butcher shop three months after it was established by his brothers, Tommy and the late Sean, in June 1971, says “a whole lot of reasons” have contributed to his decision to close.
“Old age is one thing,” he admits, “but the death of Sean last December probably copper-fastened the decision to call it a day.”
Bernie, aged 71, who has been working behind the counter in Dunning’s six days a week for over 50 years, says continuing the family businwess was “too much to take on” after Sean died, and he added that the 50% increase in the price of cattle and sheep over the past year meant the business was “unsustainable” in the long term.
“We kill all our own animals, which very few butcher shops do anymore, so our customers always knew there was full traceability for everything we sold, and they appreciated that,” he says.
The customer profile at Dunning's has “changed dramatically” since the business opened in 1971 with Bernie Dunning admitting that “younger people don’t buy from the butchers” and opt instead for buying their meat from supermarkets.
“Our customers would mainly be the older generation and they are devastated to see us close, but we have been open with them and they understand the reasons,” he says. “It’s the same story all over the country, young people don’t see the value of having a local butcher in the community.”
The impending closure of Dunning’s is the third butcher shop closure in the wider region over the past number of months after the closure of the award-winning Horan’s Pork Shop which had been a staple of The Bawn area of Athlone since 1949, and the closure of Shane Maher Ltd in Moate which had been trading at the Peter Gillivan & Son premises on Moate’s Upper Main Street since 2012.
Both businesses cited the changing retail landscape, and the changing habits of shoppers for their business model no longer being viable.
Bernie Dunning admits that retirement will be “a huge change” but says he will “keep busy” although he will miss the daily interaction with his customers, many of whom have also become great friends over the years.
His two colleagues, Paul Cleary, his nephew, and Castlerea native, Martin Smith, have worked alongside Bernie in the butcher shop for over 25 years, and says he will also miss “the daily chats” with them very much.