Bags of enthusiasm:

Sophie Drumgoole (17), Robyn Gavin (17) and Clodagh Cummins (17), all from Beaumont, at the reopening of the Penneys Store on Mary Street in Dublin, which saw queues from as early as 3am.

IT IS one of Ireland’s oldest stores and some shoppers queued from the small hours of yesterday morning just to get back inside Penneys, after almost three months of closure.

Hundreds queued outside the flagship store on Mary Street and gardaí allowed some consumers in at 8.45am, despite the opening time being set for 10.30am.

One woman had started queueing at 3am to be the first inside. And another shopper had the same idea in the south of the country, getting up before sunrise to line up for the Patrick Street store in Cork city.

By yesterday morning and into the afternoon, queues outside Penneys on Mary Street and O’Connell Street both stretched around the block.

Many shoppers echoed the same sentiment that, for them, a visit to Penneys was a sign of getting back to “normality” during the pandemic.

Nadine Sherry and daughter Brooke (8), along with other family members, emerged from the Mary Street store at around 10am, half an hour before it was due to open, with bags filled to the brim.

“I needed a lot of things,” said Ms Sherry, from Dublin city centre. “I got PJs and new bed clothes, but it was more about the coming in today after lockdown than the actual shopping. It was about getting back to normal.”

Brooke echoed her mother’s feelings, adding: “I missed Penneys.”

Kristina White (20), from Crumlin, Dublin, said: “I got here at 8.30am. It’s different to how it usually is, there’s more space but it was crazy busy.

“It was a great experience to be back though. I got some bits for the holidays, I’m going away next year. I had fun, it was brilliant.”

Very few wore face coverings with only a small number of staff wearing masks, despite chief medical officer Tony Holohan’s advice to wear masks or face coverings in shops and on public transport.

From around 8am, gardaí were manning the streets outside the flagship Dublin store.

Nadine Dennis (20) and son CJ (2) also rose early to pay a visit to the Mary Street store.

“I couldn’t get some of the things I needed like bed clothes online,” Ms Dennis, from Kilbarrack, north Dublin, said.

“I came in at 8.30am to beat the queues, I just knew it would be really busy.

“One woman was queueing from 3am with a child. It was a great atmosphere in the queue, all having the craic.

“It’s fantastic to see that things are going back to normal. Coming to Penneys is a big part of that for a lot of people. It was a real boost.”

In Cork, it was a similar story. “I have a big list of stuff to get, from clothes and underwear to socks and make-up,” shopper Ann-Marie Murphy said.

“But I’ll probably end up buying stuff that I spot inside and like. It’s great to see Penneys open again. For me, when Penneys is open, it means Cork city centre is open again.”

Mary Horgan said: “You’d really miss the shops, being closed, and the entire city centre being shut down.

“It was like a ghost town. Now we need to get the pubs and restaurants open again and bring a bit of life back.

“People are fed up with the lockdown. Everyone knows it’s important but they miss their normal lives.”

Customers are unable to try on clothes in changing rooms and there are no beauty treatments, but there is extra security, including staff monitoring social distancing, and hand sanitiser is available inside. Tills are spaced out and there is a perspex screen dividing till operators from customers.

‘It’s fantastic to see that things are going back to normal’