Haha it's ok, I do too, and I was born in the 80s 😂
Showing my age then, I still call them the January Sales 😆
A lot of older people still refer to them as the "January sales", so they probably all began in January once upon a time. I'm guessing over time other shops started to shift theirs forward to 27/28th December, but Roches didn't move.
Ah back when the January sales actually started in January 😁 I don't know the answer about why Roches were later, I don't remember that myself.
I know in the past I've often heard people speak about the January Sales and they wouldn't start until about the 2nd of January from what I know.
Anyone know why Roches used always start their post-Christmas sale much later than anyone else? The "Real Sale" wouldn't start until mid-January most years, after we'd gone back to school. My parents nearly always travelled up to Cork for it, but we'd miss out on a trip to the city because of school.
A thread from 2018, which says they closed in 2007, I feel old.
I always got my slightly defective Wrangler jeans form Frawley's in Thomas Street.
But my mum would make me get a good pair shoes from Roches Stores in Henry Street.
Ok you could be right, there may have been a gap in when the supermarket closed versus when RS closed. I was long gone from working there at that time but it was definitely not a Zara then. There is a thread in the Dublin 15 forum which has a lot of the changes over the years, someone there will remember if it was just an empty unit or if something else took over for those 18 months.
Are you sure about that? Roches exited the supermarket business in early 2005, and at that stage there were only four supermarkets left - two in Cork, Galway and Frascati in Blackrock. The attached article from February 2005 even mentions that the Blanchardstown supermarket had already closed. The Debenhams takeover didn't happen until the autumn of 2006, around 18 months later.
Forget they even had a grocery section. In later years I do remember Super valu franchises in the Dublin ones. Not for long though
^^ The RS supermarket in Blanchardstown closed when Roches Stores as a whole closed. The unit was subsequently taken over by Debenhams who did not have a supermarket. The upstairs part of the old Debenhams has only recently become a Zara.
I don't have many memories of Roches supermarket, Roches was always a must-visit when going to Cork with my parents as a kid but the department store, not the supermarket. I recall being in the Patrick Street/Merchant's Quay supermarket as few times in the early 00s when I was studying in Cork...all I remember was that the prices weren't student-friendly and it had a decent bakery. What I can't remember is whether Roches had own brand groceries, could you buy things like Roches Stores jam or yoghurt?
I think Waterford was one of the first Roches supermarkets to close. When Roches arrived in City Square in 1993, it was one of the first of the big chains to arrive in the city - there was a Crazy Prices but no Quinnsworth, Superquinn or Dunnes grocery. Once these big names arrived in the second half of the 1990s, Roches probably saw their grocery sales go into freefall. After that, quite a few of the Roches supermarkets shut to make way for concessions. I think the Limerick and Blanchardstown supermarkets were closed to make way for Zara.
Roches Stored opened up in City Square waterford when it was built as one of the anchor tennants. It was located opposite across the mall from Dunnes. My mother shopped once in the grocery section for the novelty. I recall seeing some ' roches' brand own label stuff. I think the grocery section lasted a few years and was later redeveloped into clothing with some really good concession areas - River island , Pull and bear , TopShop etc.
It was then sold to debenhams and most if not all of the decent mens sections went with it.
Oh you are bringing me back now @dublingirl83 ! I remember being brought to the café and getting the ice cream on a metal bowl too! My mother would get herself a pot of tea and we'd have the ice cream. I remember the red seats and that it was dark in there, probably dimmed lighting. Wow.
In later years I worked in the Roches Stores in Blanchardstown Shopping Centre in the supermarket, I don't remember there being a supermarket in the one in Henry Street though. Working there was one of the best, most fun jobs I ever had. I think it was just the crowd working part time we were all in college or secondary school and excited to be working in the new shopping centre when it opened, happy days.
I tell you what reminds me of Roches though are the Heatons stores (are there any still around?) .
Brand Max here (upstairs in Sports Direct shop here in Sligo) is similar to Roches Stores as well I find (just not as much selection)
What a shop, it had everything. The one in Wilton in Cork was actually quite small, its amazing the variety of quality products they fit into such a small store. Great sports section, shoes, electrical, homeware and stationery.
I was moving house recently and I was clearing out the attic, found a couple of Roches Stores carrier bags with bits in them.
The rest he wasted.
In the late 80's, it was the only place in Galway that sold Buckfast.
It wasn't even in the booze section.
Beside other stuff called Sanatogen (methinks).
Roches Stores introduced the escalator to Ireland - the very first one in Ireland was in Roches in Henry Street back in 1963. I think the Patrick Street store might had have the first escalator in Cork , so it might have been the first in Galway too.
Regarding prices... yep, they were. I don't think they ever really got involved in price wars or anything like that either.
Yes, Roches had nine supermarkets at its peak - Henry Street, Blanchardstown Centre, Blackrock, Tallaght in Dublin; Patrick Street and Wilton SC in Cork; Waterford, Galway and Limerick. They always seemed a bit nicer than Dunnes or Quinnsworth, Roches seemed to see it itself as a Superquinn-style supermarket, so it was never the cheap option. There were two smaller "Home & Gifts" stores that didn't have a supermarket, in the Nutgrove SC and the Stephen's Green SC. in the late 90s, new stores were opened in Tralee and Newry, neither had a supermarket.
The SuperValu in Merchant's Quay in Cork shut down in January this year, the last of the former Roches supermarkets to shut.
the bag
Started my coffee addiction way back when in Dublin, we always kept a jar of some cheapo coffee nobody ever seen open unless a visitor asked for a coffee,that all changed walking into a Roches store for the first and seeing and smelling real coffee beans, haven't gone a day without real coffee since
A supermarket in the Galway store: there sure was. I seem to remember that it was considered pricey, or too pricey for my parents' liking.
Roches was a great spot for the random one-off purchase, say, a bit of felt, or a hot water bottle.
Is it fair to say that Roches had the first escalator in Galway? (Maybe Moon's also had one - I honestly never darkened the door of that place until after Brown Thomas took it over.)
Id say a lot of them look like this.
Have you invented a new fetish based on female retail workers?
I know in Cork city they had supermarkets that became Supervalu.
I haven't many memories of Roches Stores to be honest apart from thinking it was massive when I was younger.
They always had a great selection of toys, all the good Gi-Joes and Transformers
Those scented papers used to have me sneezing like crazy but I couldn’t help myself. Loved the smell of stationary in roches.
those leaky tea pots are a very vivid image for me too.
My standout memories of roches stores- going up the escalator to the cafe, big long buffet of hot food, then getting ice cream scoops served in a small metal bowel. The adults having cream cakes and tea out of leaky tea pots. -Think the chairs were red cushioned
on the ground floor to the right was all the stationary - spending ages picking the best fancy paper or stickers to swap with friends.
was there a supermarket too?
I loved being brought to Roches in Galway by my mother or my grandfather. Fond memories of the pick n' mix boxes near the checkouts in the grocery section. Also the excitement of visiting the toy department on the upper floor, directly to the right after you reached the top of the escalator. Still remember the dark green '70s-style carpet.
While it's good to see the shopping centre still open and occupied, there's something mildly depressing about it now, especially that top floor. I was there a couple of times recently to check out the wares and I think I might've been the only person on the entire floor, staff included. Like a morgue.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w1.vanillicon.com/v2/19a7a778b727ad07a3bbcea8101c61b3.svg)
