When Neal Hanlon started his wee fruit and vegetable business back in 1902, we wonder did he ever dream it would still be going 118 years later.
Yes, 118 YEARS!!!!! We can hardly believe it ourselves.
Since opening in 1902, the shop has remained in the family, in the same building on the same street and is now in its fourth generation of management.
When we first opened our doors all those years ago, the world was a very different place. Our business was small, the shop was half the size it is now and the Hanlons family lived upstairs.
We relied heavily on customers calling into the shop and spreading the word about our business by talking to friends and family.
When we invested in a horse and cart it was a very big deal as it meant we could deliver to people who didn’t have easy access to the town.
We kept the horse and cart for many years, with the horses staying in a yard across the road from the shop. Some of our customers today, fondly remember the horse and cart making the rounds around the town.
As times changed, we moved away from the cart to a modern mode of transport, the van!
Our business grew too with the addition of our sandwich bar, cheese counter and seafood selection.
Our staff numbers got bigger and bigger as demand grew and over the years we moved with the times right up to the present day when we launched our very own website!!!
A website has been on our to do list for a while now but it wasn’t until the Covid-19 virus landed on our doorstep that we felt we had to move quickly.
When the country went into lockdown in March of this year, our phone lines were constantly jammed with people requesting home deliveries.
So we got to work and designed our new website to help cope with the demand and give people another option to shop without having to call us or leave their homes.
And we’re not done yet, you’ll be pleased to hear we have more plans in the pipeline for the future of Hanlons.
There’s no denying business has been tough, particularly this year, as we’ve had to deal with Covid-19 but if we’ve learned anything in the last 118 years, it’s to persevere and adapt to the changes happening around us.
We’ll never be a giant in the grocery world such as Tesco or Asda but that’s ok, we don’t want to be.
What we want is to continue to serve the community of Downpatrick and surrounding areas exactly the way we have been (along with our shiny new website)
Click HERE to shop online at Hanlons