“In these difficult times bringing people together offline and online has never been so important. We all need to support local businesses – why not support your local bakery, flower shop, jeweller, butcher, bookshop or fashion store?” Michael Tierney, Tierney’s Gifts

We are running the inaugural ‘Love Dún Laoghaire Day’ to show our support for our local business community during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a way of sharing our love for our town and it’s unique collection of businesses which are at its heart. We feel that the best way to highlight the online offering of these businesses during the COVID-19 restrictions was to run a competition where each participating business sets a clue, answering all 6 clues will put you in with a chance of winning a €50 gift voucher. 

Have you entered yet? All you need to do is visit our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter pages and LIKE and COMMENT on our pinned posts. We’ll send you the secret competition page, and then you’ll gather clues!

We’re drawing for €300 in vouchers from our featured business partners on May 23rd!

To Enter our Love Dún Laoghaire Day competition click here!

In the meantime, we have been delighted to see all the reasons that you #LoveDunLaoghaire. From our quirky shops to the seafront to the vibrancy of its people, our little town really does have it all. In celebration of all the lovely things you have to say about Dun Laoghaire Town, we rounded up some of our favourite posts from our partners and from you on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

But before all that, let’s get to know our six Dun Laoghaire businesses. Whether you’re new to town or a long-time resident, you’re bound to learn something new about the people behind our local businesses that’s guaranteed to surprise you.

Let’s Meet Our Six Love Dun Laoghaire partner businesses

Our May 23 online Love Dun Laoghaire Day partners are some of Dun Laoghaire Town’s most recognisable businesses.

Over the next few weeks and months, we’ll be telling more of our partners’ stories including special tips and hints for customers. But first, let’s get better acquainted.

J.J. Darboven

J.J. Darboven Coffee Shop

J.J. Darboven runs a barista bar and shop on George’s Street, but did you know that you might actually be drinking their coffee when you visit cafes, restaurants, and hotels across Ireland? You can even find them in Dublin Airport.

The man behind the wheel is Graham Mongey, the second-generation operator of this family run business. Under his watch, he has grown his father’s business to touch every aspect of coffee, both in retail settings and in customers’ homes!

Read more about the people behind the business in our Feature Profile.

Viking Marine

Viking Marine has been a Dun Laoghaire staple for 35 years, and the shop is one of our town’s best known ‘destination businesses.’ Although we can pop in after a walk down the pier, people from all over Ireland come to Dun Laoghaire because Viking Marine runs the only specialist high street showroom in the country.

The man at the helm is Ian O’Meara, an avid sailor born and raised just down the road in Sandycove. Ian has big plans for the months ahead. Watch this space for all your post-lockdown kayaking, SUPing, swimming, and boating needs.

Casper & Giumbini’s

Kim and David O’Driscoll are the sister-and-brother team behind one of Dun Laoghaire Town’s most talked about restaurants, Casper & Giumbini’s. Only recently opened at the Pavillion,  Casper & Giumbini’s is the sister restaurant to the ever-popular Deville’s down in Dalkey.

While Casper & Giumbini’s may be a new addition to town, the O’Driscoll siblings are not. Their father was the proprietor of the original Casper & Giumbini’s on Wicklow Street in the 1980s.

While a lockdown wasn’t what Kim and David imagined their first year in Dun Laoghaire, they’re making the best of things with a delivery service and a focus on reimagining what the restaurant scene can be when Ireland’s hospitality businesses open their doors once again.

Read more about the brother and sister behind the business in our Feature Profile.

Irish Design Gallery

Sinead Buckley Quinn – Irish Design Gallery

Located in the historic Moran Park House on Dun Laoghaire’ seafront, Sinead Buckley Quinn’s Irish Design Gallery is a creative hub for South Dublin and Dun Laoghaire. It’s a design shop that sets itself miles apart from the typical gift shot. All the pieces are local and handmade. Most of the featured artists come from within 50 miles of Dun Laoghaire Town, and artists and designers are free to use the three studios upstairs.

Although Irish Design Gallery won’t re-open until Phase 2, Sinead has been busy behind the scenes creating a stellar e-commerce business. She delivers locally to save on postage, and if you’re after a large piece, she’ll bring it round to let you see if it fits the room. If it doesn’t work, then it doesn’t need to stay.

Read more about the person behind the business in our Feature Profile.

Frewen & Alyward

Marty O’Byrne receives Menswear Retailer of the Year for UK & Ireland

Frewen & Alyward is Dun Laoghaire (and Ireland’s) menswear destination, but what you find inside is so much more than shirts and ties. Proprietor Martin O’Byrne and his team carry on a long tradition of incredible tastemaking and tailoring. A purchase here isn’t a one-off piece of your wardrobe: it changes your whole outlook on the way you dress. That’s why people come from all over Ireland and even from the UK and North America to do their shopping in Dun Laoghaire.

The store’s made to measure service is currently suspended, but you can still shop Marty’s carefully chosen pieces, including exclusive to Frewen & Alyward brands, on the webstore.

Read more about the person behind the business in our Feature Profile.

Tierney’s Gifts

Dick Tierney with a customer outside the Dun Laoghaire shop in the 1960s

Tierney’s Gifts is one of Dun Laoghaire’s oldest and best loved businesses. Opened by Richard Tierney in 1951, the business is now run by husband and wife Michael and Mairéad Tierney.

So much of Dun Laoghaire’s recent history can be found in Tierney’s archives. Tirney’s did huge business with British tourists during the tourism boom in the 1950s and 1960s. Americans bought up toys and gifts in the 1970s.

Though a legacy business, Tierney’s is very much a modern enterprise. The team runs a web store that sees sales grow every year and ships worldwide. Tierney’s is closed during the crisis, but you can shop the store online and enjoy free delivery on orders over 25.

Read more about the husband and wife team behind the business in our Feature Profile.

Why We Love Dun Laoghaire…

We asked our six participating Dun Laoghaire businesses what it is they love about being in Dun Laoghaire. Here’s what they told us.

J.J. Darboven

“Dun Laoghaire is an incredible amenity.” There’s two piers, George’s Street, and as Graham told us, “a bit of everything.”

Viking Marine

As lovers of everything on the water, it’s not hard to see why Dun Laoghaire is the perfect fit for Viking Marine.

“It’s beautiful…and of course, one of the best man made harbours in the world.”

Caspar & Giumbini’s

“I love Dun Laoghaire because there are more and more reasons for going there now. I think the more restaurants or eateries on offer in a place like here the better.  We now have the People’s Park, a great pier to walk, an evening at the cinema or at the Pavilion Theatre.”

Frewen & Alyward

“We have one of the finest towns in Ireland and certainly are the best suburb in Dublin. Our seafront is obviously the star attraction, but the amount of hidden gems whether they be historical, cultural, hospitality.”

Irish Design Gallery

“Having grown up in Killiney and now living back there it seemed natural to explore possibly opening a gallery in Dun Laoghaire – its location and welcome is paramount and the locals and tourists alike have welcomed this type of shop as a great attraction and amenity to the town.” 

Tierney’s Gifts

“I believe in the unique value of physical stores. Not only from a commercial perspective, but one of human interaction.”

What you had to say about our great town