"We'll miss the locals so much" Longford EuroGiant staff heartbroken by closure

With Longford's EuroGiant branches experiencing "queues out the door" since their 50% liquidation sale kicked off, staff have spoken of their sadness at the prospect of saying goodbye to their long-term customers when the shop doors shut for the final time.

The final closing date is as of yet unconfirmed but expected to be within the next two weeks.  

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Manager of the EuroGiant branch on Main Street, Cathy O'Shea, say they will miss the local faces they have come to regard as friends over the years. She has been with the company almost 20 years. 

"When I was in school, the manager that opened here was Des and I used to go by asking, 'have you a job for me?'" she laughs at the memory. "I started when I was 16. I'm 36 now. The manager in the other store is the same. I was only a couple of months here when I trained her in so she's nearly 20 years here as well."

"We'll miss it so much. We really will. We'll miss the locals especially. People who used to come in each day for a chat, we’ll miss that so much. We'll miss everything about it. It's still hard to believe we'll be closing."

Staff of EuroGiant on Longford's Main Street: Jessica Barry, Niamh Knox, and manager Cathy O'Shea

"We're like a little family here. I'm here 19 years. Jess is here 10 years, and Niamh is here three years. You become family. Even with the other shop, we all stick together so it’s sad to think that's coming to an end."     

With the 50% liquidation sale in full effect, both branches of EuroGiant in Longford have been thronged with crowds.

So far, among the most popular purchases in the larger branch over in the N4 Axis Retail Centre have been the cleaning products and the greeting cards.    

Already empty! The fridge in the N4 Axis Centre of EuroGiant branch with just two products remaining.

Said Cathy of her busy branch on the town's Main Street, "We’ve had a great reaction to the sale here so far. We were bombarded on Tuesday when it first started."

"We have another store up in the N4 Axis Centre, the big store, and I had to go up and help them because it was so busy with the crowds. It was crazy.” 

She added, "It's great to see the local faces and people that are here regularly. They're coming in and they genuinely feel bad for us. Loads of people are giving us information about jobs as well; telling us where there's jobs available. People have been very good, they really have. We'll be so sad to say goodbye."

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