Closure of Kingston's marks end of long and glorious era on Main Street in Tipperary Town

The closure of the iconic Kingston’s Shoe Shop in Tipperary Town has marked the end of a long and glorious era on Main Street, writes John O’Heney.

Since 1946 when Thomas and Susan Kingston purchased the store, Kingston’s has been a mainstay in the town, serving the people of Tipperary Town with pride for many years.

I was delighted to speak with Billy Kingston recently as he recalled the long and storied history of the famous old store.

Although Billy had retired a few years ago; the shop continued to trade as a Shoe Store for the last number of years.

Billy’s parents, Thomas and Susan, had two sons, Sam and Billy, and one daughter, Betty.

Growing up all the family worked in the store down throughout the years.

Thomas and Susan were very hardworking people. Thomas used to travel to all the shoe factories all over Ireland to bring good shoes back to Tipperary Town.

After the War it had been difficult at times to obtain shoes, so this was an arduous task at times.

It was Billy who decided to get into the family trade upon leaving school. Billy spent over 60 years working in the store from 1958 until his retirement in 2018, a remarkable spell of longevity.

Billy married Margaret, a native of Tullamore, in 1966 and they had two sons, Ken and David.

David is a pilot living in Canada and Ken had worked with his father for over 20 years in the store before taking up a position as Operations Manager with the Niall Mellon Trust in recent years.

Kingston’s was a great employer in the town over many generations with many people giving the majority of their working lives to the store.

Originally, there was Bridget Dalton who worked in the store for over 50 years, then Bridget Hogan and more recently Bernie Martin who worked there for 40 years.

Mairin Schofield also did the administration work for almost 40 years in the office. Catherine Richardson and Francis Martin spent 20 years each in the store with Teresa Ryan there 17 years.

There were many others who worked in the store throughout its existence as it proved to be a great employer in the area.

Kingston’s was renowned for supplying all types of Ladies, Men’s and Children’s shoes. There were back-to-school shoes, summer and winter wear on display every year.

Billy especially took pride in giving people their very first pair of shoes.

He would measure their feet and take a photograph of that person wearing their new pair of shoes and give it to their parents.

When Billy retired himself in 2018 many people returned into the store with photographs that had been taken many years previously of them wearing their first pair of shoes, given to them by Billy and his team.

Kingston’s served third and fourth generations of customers and had many joyful and happy memories serving the people of Tipperary Town.

The business had been leased in recent years yet continued to operate as a shoe shop with the iconic Kingston’s name over the door.

Many people will recognise Kingston’s as being famous for its Shoe Shop, however there was also a Menswear store there up until the 1990s next door to the Shoe Shop.

Billy would especially like to thank all his customers who were incredibly loyal to him over many years and even in recent years when the store had been rented out, many customers continued to do their shoe shopping at the Kingston’s premises.

The family intends to keep the building and to possibly lease it out again. Billy is hopeful that a new business might be established on the premises in time to come.

The very best wishes to Billy, his wife Margaret and his family for the future.

The family have many great memories of their time in business in Tipperary Town.