Midleton’s O’Dwyers reopens after flood that devastated shop

A THIRD-generation family business in Midleton is up and running again after suffering extensive damages in the wake of Storm Babet floods last October.

The O’Dwyer family, who own The Shoe Suite and O’Dwyers Footwear shop on Midleton’s Main Street, were in a jubilant mood as they welcomed customers back through the doors on Tuesday, January 23.

“I can’t describe the wonderful feeling of being back open for business again,” says David O’Dwyer, who took over the business from his mother Florence in 1978. He expanded to open six more shops based across Cork, Waterford, Tipperary, and Kilkenny. David’s son, Mark, now runs the business.

The Midleton store, closed for three months, now has a new modern look with a boutique feel to it.

“It is a complete revamp of the original layout it had when it first opened up the road in number 9 in 1960,” says David, who worked as an accountant.

“I came out of retirement to oversee the refurbishments,” he added. “I was the gaffer for three weeks!

“We were fortunate to have flood cover. But we won’t have it again. I think the long-standing effects of the floods for all the businesspeople in Midleton will stay with us for a long time. There is anxiety and a fearfulness for what the future might bring.”

The next generation of O’Dwyers are optimistic that their business will boom again.

“Midleton is a great town to do business,” says David. “My sister, Moira, now deceased, had a very successful boutique, Impulse.

“We are one of the few remaining third-generation businesses in the town. And we have total confidence of the future of the town. Midleton is buzzing.”

Everyone is back to work. O’Dwyers shoe store Midleton employs five staff. In all, the six shops in Midleton, Oliver Plunkett Street, Maylor Street, Dungarvan, Kilkenny and Clonmel, employ 35 people.

“Mark is busy travelling and buying new stock, recovering from the terrible effects of the storm. We were an obvious casualty at the end of the street. The shop was under one metre of water.”

Mark is glad of his father’s expertise as the business bounces back.

“We’ve sealed all the interior walls with MDF tricoya water-resistant and moisture resistant MDF,” says David.

“It is extremely durable and will last for years. We had to rebuild first, going back to the shell and core, then re-do the walls and interior of the shop.

“Half our stock was wiped out in the floods.”

What else faced David the morning after Storm Babet visited?

“I couldn’t leave my house in Broomfield West until the morning after the floods,” says David.

“I was worried about the shop in Oliver Plunkett Street that often got flooded. When I got to the Midleton store the morning after the floods, I was met with no shop front — all the windows were gone, as well as half the stock. The boxes of shoes stacked on the shelves in the stock room collapsed under the weight of the water.”

David is proud of the family history and regard that O’Dwyers shoe shop enjoys in Midleton and surrounds.

“The shop was my mother’s baby,” says David. “My mother, Florence, and my dad, Jerry, were from Ennis. They came to Midleton for work in the 50s.”

Florence had vision. “She was an entrepreneur and she saw an opening for shoe shop in Midleton,” says David.

“First, she rented number 9 until she bought here in 1970. We weren’t in the EEC [European Economic Community] then, and she stocked and sold all Irish-made products.

“When we joined, she expanded her stock, stocking European brands of shoes. She was a brilliant businesswoman considering she had no business background.”

David took over the business in 1978.

“I was given six months to make the call,” says David. “I came into business terrified for the first six months! It was different going from being employed to being self-employed.”

He soon got on his feet. “My training as an accountant was invaluable giving me many business skills apart from finance,” he says. He also had people skills.

“Here in Midleton, I got to know all my customers on a first-name basis — I even knew their shoe sizes!”

People stepped up when Storm Babet hit.

“We didn’t buy a coffee for three days,” he says. 

“Tea, coffee, lunches and dinners all arrived in the shop for us, for the staff, and for the builders. Mops, sanitary goods, wipes; everything just appeared.

“The support from the people of Midleton was phenomenal. Even people who had suffered damage themselves were so supportive. Friends, acquaintances, and totally unknown people arrived with brushes and mops. They spent hours helping with the clean-up. Teams of pupils came to help from the local school. They worked with diligence and great spirit.”

Was O’Dwyers shoe shop in Midleton flooded in the past?

“I remember we had to close the shop for three days at the end of December in 2015,” says David.

“The floods were bad, but not to the same level as last October.”

David knows O’Dwyers shoe shop will continue to do business in the town he loves so well.

“There is a lot of positivity about,” says David. “Since Covid people are shopping local. I think you have to have confidence in where you are.

And I have tremendous confidence about the future of Midleton.The community spirit is very strong and Midleton will continue to thrive.”

See shoesuite.ie.