'Selling into any customer was precarious as any disagreement would exclude the customer for life and there were no alternatives to go to'

'Selling into any customer was precarious as any disagreement would exclude the customer for life and there were no alternatives to go to'

Billy Gallagher describes the management of the family business and remembers some of the customers, including Clery's.

Billy Gallagher

Trinity College Dublin

1960

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Billy Gallagher

Work and employment

Life Story

Donegal, Lifford

1960's

Business accounts were usually a year or two after year end when they were of little use to anyone from a management point of view. I remember my father saying once, to everyone's horror, that it was suggested to him that accounts should be done a year in advance. The idea was ridiculed as impossible and nonsensical. No one in that family business would have understood the logic or possibility of this and that included me. (Budgeted accounts were unheard of.)The customers in Dublin at that time were Clery's (by far the biggest), Guiney's of Talbot St, The Blackrock Tailoring Co. Outside Dublin customers included Denis Moran's of Limerick, Cash's of Cork, Duggan's of Kilkenny etc. Selling into any customer was precarious as any disagreement would exclude the customer for life ' and there were no alternatives to go to. Business depended exclusively on the relationship between the store buyer and the salesman. Clery's was visited daily by all 28 salesmen from all 28 factories and had to be supplied and delivered by 10 a.m. They bought daily and over a year consumed vast quantities. There was no variety ever, nor was there ever a change in price, same shirt; same fabric; same cost price and same retail price always. Shops did place large forward orders on known lines and added to them as they sold out. To start the season Guiney's of Talbot St would buy 700 dozen striped, double fronted, tunic shirts with 3 separate collars. They paid 19 shillings and 4d for these to sell at 22/11 but had a sale for 8/9 months of the year and sold them at 19/11. Denis Guiney had a system of trading, he didn't care how much profit the shops made as long as he got 5% discount in the office, that was his profit. The individual buyers controlled their departments and were paid small salaries and huge bonuses based on turnover above.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)