End of an era in Laois Offaly border village as last grocery store closes its doors

It was the end of an era in Killeigh last Saturday with the closure of Gorman's shop which has served the people of the wider area for almost three and half decades.

“We've had many happy memories since we came here in 1990,” Liz Gorman told the Tribune last Thursday as she and her husband, Frank, and their two employees, Melissa Gorman and Ciara O'Brien, prepared to close the shop on the following Saturday.

Liz said she had been overwhelmed by the messages of support the team at Gorman's received from customers since the impending closure became public.

On Thursday pupils of the local Montessori school visited to present Liz and her team with artwork they created to mark the occasion.

“People are sad to see us go,” added Liz who said she felt particularly sorry for the children of the area.

“This was a meeting place for the kids,” she revealed.

Liz said she had become friendly with many regulars over the years including two customers from Cavan and Wexford who stopped regularly for a sandwich and a cuppa.

Liz and Frank and the team at Gorman's experienced many milestones over the past 34 years including the introduction of the Euro and the cigarette ban.

Asked what she and Frank intended to do in retirement Liz admitted they wanted “to take it easy”.

There has been a shop on the site of Gorman's for 100 years this year, starting with Buckleys, then the Mahon family, through Danny Coughlan and family, Marie Louise McEnroe, to Frank and Liz Gorman.

The closure of Gorman's comes following the closure of the post office and Langton's in the village leaving no grocery store to serve the people of Killeigh and district.