PICTURES: Kilkenny shop celebrates 100 years and three generations!

ABOVE: John, Margaret and Ann Croke. Scroll down to read about the celebration and then click NEXT to see lots more pictures from the day, all taken by Joe Cashin.

Three generations of one family have served the Mooncoin community for over 100 years, celebrating the special milestone last September.

On the week, the local store won our readers prize for best 99 cone in the county, here's your chance to get to know the people behind the counter again!

September 2024 - The goods on the shelves and the services available at Croke’s might be unrecognisable to those when John and Hannie Croke first opened the doors of the shop, but the principle of being there for the community has remained the same as the family business was passed on from one generation to another.

John and Hannie opened the shop just after they were married. John had been the area’s postman and met Hannie who worked in the post office in Mooncoin. Her family came from The Rower, where they also ran a shop.

At first Croke’s shop was in a room in their home, at the end of the street from its current location.

They soon moved to the post office premises, which had also been a bakery and butcher, and it also became the family home.

Croke’s shop is still located in that premises today, with the modern family home built behind it.

John and Hannie had four sons - Michael, Seán, Richard and Paddy - who all went into the retail business.

Michael and Seán ran the family shop with their mother, after the death of John. When Seán was married he and his wife, Mary, bought a shop in Ballygriffen.

Richard ran a motor garage, with his wife Kathleen, and was a bus driver. Paddy had a shop in Carrigeen, with his wife Breda.

Michael went on to run Croke’s with his wife, Rita, following their marriage in 1969, with the supervision of Hannie.
Their three children are running Croke’s today - John and Margaret in the shop and Ann the “unsung hero” behind the scenes, according to her siblings.

Reflecting on changes from their grandparents’ time, Margaret said the technology is one of the biggest, while John says his grandparents wouldn’t have sold anything like the convenience food they sell today, with a new deli installed last year. The similarity is all generations of the business had to keep changing and reinventing themselves to cater to their customers.

The success of Croke’s is thanks to the great staff and the support the shop gets from the community, the ‘great customers’.

The generations of Crokes have known generations of customers - in one family seven generations have been customers, and some of the older customers have dealt with all three generations of the Crokes.

Saturday’s celebration had huge support from the shop’s suppliers, with Diggers supplying food and a rep to run the barbecue, and lots of other suppliers helping out.
The community brought marquees, tables and chairs, even baked cakes for the special occasion. 

Click NEXT to see lots of photographs from the day!