Retiring: Angela and Bobby Sheridan of Tramore's Arch Newsagents.
The people of Tramore will be sad to see the departure of Angela and Bobby Sheridan from the newspaper business, after they announced their retirement.
Located on Summerhill near McCormack’s Hardware, Kelly’s and opposite O Neill’s
Pub, it was a great place to buy a paper and drop in for a chat.
It had some old fashioned charm the area is synonymous with and Angela recalls some regulars who’d come in for a long chat and have a discussion with customers coming and going.
Angela says she will miss the people and thanks the people of Tramore for their loyalty and custom over the 22 years, she and her husband have been operating.
Angela was raised in Johnstown, Waterford where they had the Spencer’s milk delivery business.
Her husband worked in Waterford Crystal for 22 years as a cutter and later for another 23 years in a different number of roles, after getting cutters elbow as it was known.
Angela would also work in industry as a comptometer operator in the accounts department of the Waterford Foundry.
From Angela’s experience in the milk business, she was used to early mornings – in the newsagency their day starts at 6.50am, when they went through the parcels of papers delivered and then opened around 7pm when customers would start coming in.
Their retail day finished at 5.45pm approximately and they would also close Sunday and Bank Holiday afternoons in what is a seven-day week business.
They occasionally got a holiday away and visited their son, David in Caerphilly in Wales, where he works in adventure sports and another son, Robert in Manchester who works as a physiotherapist.
They also have a daughter, Liz, who lives in Tramore, teaches in Kill and has three children. They would like to secure a buyer but would want to retire at the end of this month. Trade has still been very good in Newspapers over the years, magazine sales and cards have dropped back a little as young people read less print, says Angela.
They did find a drop after the post office moved from Summerhill a number of years back and also when the Bank of Ireland moved a decade ago to the Summerhill centre. They also miss the Grand Hotel tour bus visitors.
Nevertheless, they have still a good trade, being such a popular couple, locals would often rather go and support a local business .
They recall some of the characters that passed away that used to come in, one was called “liquorice man” another was Michel, the Frenchman who used to work on the roads. He used to bring them a gift from Lourdes when he went over on a pilgrimage.
Jimmy Rashers was another – there also are a few good ones around still, who come in early and discuss the topics of the day and the town.
The service a small shop like this can offer, like keeping a copy for you when away on holidays or ordering special editions for you and filling you in on the local news cannot be offered by the large convenience stores and will leave a gap in the market place.
At times they have also helped people in distress, where a doctor might have to be called or other emergency. They could even offer some counselling for some one feeling a little down and could brighten up their day.
In the days of online trading, it is something that a computer cannot offer, their social skills will be missed.
We hope that they are fortunate and a new owner can be secured so that this little Tramore institution can be maintained.
In the meantime we wish Angela and Bobby a happy and well deserved retirement.
