Sadness as Abbeyleix store to close
The beautiful shopfront of Anthology art, craft and design store in Abbeyleix, which is to close in August. File image
A POPULAR Abbeyleix shop is to close down next month, after five years in business.
The Anthology store on Market Square announced the sad decision on social media this afternoon.
The landmark store with its vibrant yellow façade will close its doors for the last time on Saturday, 29 August.
The well-stocked store carries a curated selection of Irish art and design, ranging from artworks and ceramics to books, crafts, giftware and more. Virtually everything in the store is Irish-made, with many items crafted in Laois.
The owners said: ‘The time has come to close the chapter on Anthology. We would like to thank all of our amazing loyal customers over the last five years and the pop-up shop where it all began.’
The shop is owned and run by local artist and fashion design graduate Alison McEvoy and craftsman Richard Reid, an archaeologist, tech specialist and woodturner who also runs Pig’s Wood Workshop in Killamuck, near the bog on the edge of Abbeyleix.
The two business partners founded Anthology as an online store in 2020 as a response to the start of the Covid pandemic, when there were few outlets for creative people to market their products. A pop-up shop was followed by the opening of the outlet on Market Square.
Richard told the that the cost of living crisis is a major reason for the decision to close the store, as shops selling non-essential goods are struggling to stay in business.
He said: “What we sell is lovely but it’s not vital. We have noticed since the middle of last year that things are getting tighter and tighter. We decided to make the choice to close now, rather than wait until we would have no choice but to close.
“We could have struggled on for longer but we prefer to close on a good note, without owing suppliers. Many of our suppliers are small-scale and they wouldn’t be able to take the hit. We have great suppliers and we don’t want to let them down.”
Gift vouchers can be spent on anthology.ie before 15 August. After that date, customers are asked to call into the shop to redeem vouchers against goods, as they will be unredeemable after 29 August.
