GERALDINE’S FINAL SALON DAYS
SHE has looked after generations of families over the past five decades, but now Geraldine Kelly says it’s time for a change.
The popular hairdresser won’t re-open the doors of her salon at Sunday’s Gate after the lockdown, but just don’t dare say she is retiring!
“I don’t like that word, so I’m just saying I’m moving on to new beginnings,” she says with a laugh. “I didn’t even intend to shut until about two weeks ago, but the cost of making the salon safe for customers was just overwhelming for a small business like mine, so I made the difficult decision to call it a day.”
This will be a blow to her many loyal customers, but she won’t leave anyone in the lurch!
“I’ll make sure my longtime customers are looked after or settled in with someone else, as some of them are like family to me, and I have looked after girls making their communion, and then gone onto do their hair at their weddings and now cut their children’s hair,” she adds,
“The MMMs always came to me when they were younger and the stories they used to have when they came home from Africa were amazing, and they still send me cards and flowers.”
Geraldine opened the doors to her salon at Sunday’s Gate, Drogheda on February 17th 1971, making her the longest remaining ladies’ stylist in the town.
It’s been more than a place to get your wash and set to many though, and Geraldine and the girls have created a little community where you can chat, confess and set the world to rights, and still walk out looking smashing!!
‘You wouldn’t believe some of the stories I could tell you, you really couldn’t make them up, like playing charades in the shop during the many power cuts we used to get here, and I haven’t had to cook for years, with people bringing me in bread, scones and cakes all the time,” she says. “I will miss all the craic and I did think of passing it on, but many have said Geraldine’s wouldn’t be the same without Geraldine!”
Long before social distancing, there were only so many she could fit in the shop.
‘I remember one day seeing two of my regulars Rita and Lillian standing outside the shop for ages, and I said to one of the girls, ‘ go out and tell them to come in, I’m not waiting all day for them’, and she came back and said they were standing in a queue right round the corner.’
She says there are too many high points to mention over the years, having won numerous awards, as well as meeting President Michael D Higgins in the Aras.
‘I remember being called to the Gresham Hotel to do a client’s hair when I worked in Knox’s in Dublin, and being told to say nothing about what I might see or hear. I was sitting outside the bedroom door, where there was shouting and swearing, and even a glass smashing, so I was sent home by the manager,” she recalls. “On the train home I read in the Evening Press about ‘ Liz Taylor and Richard Burton in bust up at the Gresham’, so it must have been them!’
Geraldine’s fame and reknown even went national in 2011, when she was the subject of a visit from the RTE Nationwide team, who spoke to her about her remarkable achievement.
There have been tough times too, but she says it was always the loyalty of her customers that got her through.
“It will be bittersweet to lock up for the last time this week, and hand back the keys, but it’s definitely the right time for me,” says Geraldine, “I will have no regrets and will be able to meet up with customers as friends now, and have the cups of coffee we’ve always promised to have.”
She wants to add a special word of thanks to all her staff and customers over the years, and for all the lovely messages and best wishes on social media.
Never one to rest on her laurels, what will Geraldine do now she has more time outside the salon?
“I love doing nothing,” she says laughing. “I’m not one for gardening or golf, so maybe I’ll start something I’ve always wanted to do and never had time, like painting. I’ll put down the hairbrush and pick up a paintbrush!”