I broke rules to dress mourners
A MENSWEAR retailer has admitted opening his doors to mourners, despite Covid-19 restrictions, saying he does not want to add to his customers’ ‘misery’.
Patrick Bourke said he made the decision because he was being driven ‘demented’ by the coronavirus restrictions and did not want to ‘let people down’ who needed to be dressed appropriately for funerals.
Mr Bourke, the third-generation owner of Patrick Bourke Menswear, which has outlets in Ennis and Kilrush, Co. Clare, said: ‘We hire out black suits for funerals and we sell black suits for funerals and that was our busiest trade for the last four months. ‘You can’t do that online, so we were letting people in to do that,’ he explained/
‘It is a bit like the shebeen, you knock at the door or phone us as you’re coming and we’ll let you in, no problem. I didn’t do it for the turnover, but so I wouldn’t let people down because funerals are already so difficult and stressful on people. Why would I add to their misery?’
Mr Bourke said he was ‘frustrated’ by a lack of common sense when it came to the restrictions. He said his turnover is down 80% and that he is losing money by operating only online deliveries at present.
He added that if click-and-collect services had been allowed, it would have doubled his turnover from what he has made from online deliveries since January.
A phased return of retail and the return of personal services such as hairdressers have been earmarked for the next easing of restrictions, set for May 4. Retail Excellence has repeated calls for the immediate return of clickand-collect to aid get the struggling sector back to business.
Like Mr Bourke, Elaine Murrihy, co-owner of Ela Maria Boutique in Newcastle West, Co. Limerick and Ennis, Co. Clare, said it was ‘very upsetting’ looking at stock mounting up. Ms Murrihy, who runs the shops with her sister Maria Field, said turnover is down by almost 50%. ‘Sometimes you feel like, “What’s it all for?”,’ she said, adding it was made more difficult by the Government not allowing click-and-collect.