Fifty years behind the counter and it's still 'absolutely fabulous'

THE streets of Tuam have changed since Eamonn G, as he’s affectionately known about town, skipped down from school to be the young model for a few of the fussier mothers shopping in his father’s drapery.
He tip-toed into his now 50-year-plus career in business aged 12, when not only was he expected to help out around the shop but was also told rather than cajoled to put on a variety of fashionable boys’ outfits so that the 'mammies’ could get an idea what the style would be like on their own brood.
Always dressed for business, this day in a dashing three-piece suit (my visit on official business is a special occasion, I’m assured), it seems Eamonn was certainly destined to sell and serve.
Helping customers find what they want and have them leave perhaps with a few extra items is an innate skill of a man who has no intention of stopping doing what he loves.
Sweeping the path that fronts his shop each morning and ensuring the double glass doors and traditional shopfront windows gleam aren’t seen as chores by Eamonn, they’ve been part of his daily business life for over half a century and he sees no reason to stop now.

Read the full feature in this week's edition