Cork woman: 'I had no business background... but I decided to open a gift shop'

JACINTA Burke’s star is firmly in the ascendant.

Her hugely successful occasion store, Silver Bow Gifts, in the heart of Glanmire village, celebrated its first birthday this summer. And Jacinta herself has been nominated for Emerging Business Person of the Year in the forthcoming Glanmire Chamber of Commerce awards ceremony.

Not bad for a business that didn’t even exist, in concept form, less than two years ago!

“I had been working for years as a business analyst and in various IT roles in the telecoms industry before I started a new role with PTSB,” Jacinta explains.

“Things were going well until, six weeks into the job, Covid forced us all to stay at home and my bedroom became my office.”

Jacinta found the isolation tough. It didn’t help that the enforced stay at home policy seemed to be stretching out into the distance with no change on the immediate horizon.

“My colleagues in PTSB were fantastic and really made an effort to stay connected, but I missed the face to face with people, the banter. It was hard not having that daily interaction. It really started to get me down.”

A random trip to Glanmire to buy a birthday card was to become the catalyst for immense change for Jacinta.

“I realised there was nowhere in Glanmire to buy a really nice birthday card, other than the supermarket.”

On her return, she mentioned to her husband Keith how Glanmire could do with a gorgeous gift and card shop. It was an off-the-cuff remark. But, when he replied ‘Well, why don’t you open one yourself!’, Jacinta was gobsmacked.

“He floored me with this comment as the idea of me opening a business had never even crossed my mind. My parents were both farmers, and I had no business background myself.”

Once the seed had been implanted, however, Jacinta began to fall in love with the idea. “I thought, ‘Why not me? I love homewares and pottering around little shops’. But I realised it was a massive risk, so it took a bit of discussion before I took the leap.”

Then the challenge was to find a suitable premises. Cork city was saturated with card and gift shops.

Originally from Limerick, Jacinta loves living in Glanmire and really wanted to have a local business.

“We live here, our kids go to school here, and we feel so connected to our community.”

By chance, there was one premises in the centre of Glanmire that had been vacant for almost two years.

Jacinta donned her sleuth’s hat and tracked down the previous occupant, who had relocated his business and was planning to put the premises back on the market for lease.

“I felt all the stars had aligned.”

And that was that.

There is no doubting that it was a veritable leap off the precipice for Jacinta.

It was January. Covid was still dominating the way society lived, the third lockdown was in full force, Jacinta had handed in her notice at work, the building needed a full refurbishment, and she needed the builders to start in order to make her self-imposed deadline of a May opening.

No small order. But she was up to the task.

“It was so hard to find a builder and, even then, the work was stop-start. It was a mad few months but we got there.”

While the renovations were getting underway, Jacinta embarked on an intensive ‘Start Your Own Business’ course with the Local Enterprise Office (LEO).

“The support from LEO was fantastic. I didn’t know anything and I had to dive right in and learn all about inventory, point of sale, cost projections, sales and profit margins, etc.”

It was a lot to take in and Jacinta spent the next few months cramming and planning.

Meanwhile, the house was becoming more backed up with stock. Stress!

“It was all hands-on deck at the end. My hubby, in-laws, siblings, etc, were all dragged in to help getting it ready on time. But it was so worth the madness.”

The shop opened with a bang.

“It was a very good time. Then we quietened down pre-Christmas. And we had some Holy Moly moments. But it thankfully took off again and we had a fantastic Christmas.”

Our first birthday was on June 12, and I feel I’m still learning. It is about striking that balance between what the market wants and my vision for the shop.”

Silver Bow Gifts is a veritable cornucopia of gorgeousness. Scandi style homewares mixed with a vast range of Irish-designed artisan products, from beautiful candles to Kaiko concrete-based lamps, Badly-Made Books and journals, serving ware and more. And of course, an amazing selection of cards.

Thanks to LEO, Jacinta has had the benefit of working with a business mentor.

“This has been a super resource for me: three hours of mentoring per week over a few weeks.”

Lots of what Jacinta sells in the shop is not what you might call ‘everyday sales’.

“My mentor explained to me that my approach should be that, while nobody needs anything I sell, I need to make them want to buy it!” So, this is Jacinta’s business goal for the coming year.

“I’m here. I’m established. And my aim now is to make myself known to my audience.”

The natural next step has been to introduce her business online.

“I’ve been getting more active on Instagram and am embracing the concept of online selling. It really is brilliant. It is like a second front door.”

Juggling the demands of a new business with the busyness of being mum to Chloe, aged 11, and Adam, aged nine, is also challenging.

“I don’t see them as much as I would love, but am grateful that Keith still works from home, so he is there most of the time.

“I have always been working, and managed to fit in exercise too. I even ran the Dublin City Marathon back in 2019. Once Covid hit, I took my foot off the pedal.”

And the task of starting up a brand-new business has mopped up any potential spare time.

One suspects, however, that Jacinta Burke does nothing by halves.

Being nominated for Emerging Business Person of the Year has brought her great joy and made all these personal sacrifices so worthwhile.

The Glanmire Chamber of Commerce Awards ceremony will take place on October 15.

See www.silverbowgifts.ie; Instagram @silver_bow_gifts; FB Silver Bow GiftsJacinta