Cards and flowers sit on now empty shelves in a drapery shop in Co Carlow that has served its community for 100 years.
There is almost nothing left to buy, but customers still pop in and out for a chat, a cup of tea and to say thank you.
Arnold Mahon took over PJ Duffy's of Mill Street in Tullow on 1 April 1968 and on 1 April 2025, he will close its doors for the last time.
The 86-year-old man has spent six decades standing behind the shop’s counters, along with the staff he views as family.
"It’s the end of an era for me," he said, adding "I have had a lovely life, I really enjoyed it. I am sorry to be going at this stage".
"It’s just age is getting the better of me. It was a great life," Mr Mahon said.
He said that he never dreaded waking up and going to work in what was once a hub and a pillar of the community.
"There was an opening for me here and I was making a contribution to society," he said.
"It was a nice place to work. It was a nice shop. We enjoyed meeting the people and people were lovely."
The decision to shut up shop was not an easy one for Mr Mahon, who said he had done all he could to cater to "salt of the earth" customers.
He said: "I feel upset, to be quite honest with you. I am going to miss it tremendously.
"I enjoyed it. It was a nice, clean job.
"We did the best we could in limited circumstances."
Mr Mahon said he and his long-standing staff always offered customers the ability to buy on credit - ensuring that the town’s children had school uniforms and shoes, even when times were tough.
"It was important," he said, adding "people needed us. They didn’t have the money".
Mr Mahon has seen lots of changes over his decades and said "great fluctuation", recessions and cost of living crises are particularly evident in a small town.
Dusty, handwritten books with the names of Tullow’s families were used up to the present day and a card machine was only a recent addition.
"When I came here first, Tullow was a poor town," Mr Mahon said.
"People didn’t have money. They were scraping a living. We tried to look after people the best we could," he added.
In its glory days, staff were offered accommodation upstairs as part of their contract under the condition that they abided by a curfew of 10pm.
These rooms are now empty and silent, but the names of the people who called the shop home during the last century are engraved into a linen press.
A pulley system used to send payments to the office, old fire extinguishers and other artefacts are being moved to local museums - bits of the shop’s character that stood the test of time.
The push against modernisation was important to Mr Mahon, who decided to keep the shop’s old name.
"I decided at the time to continue the name Duffy’s and that Duffy’s would be known all around the place," he said, noting: "It was very important for me to continue."
The town and the world outside the three-storey building’s windows has changed and Mr Mahon acknowledged that his shop will be one of the last of its kind.
"Ireland is changing, shopping is changing," he said.
Mr Mahon said: "People are shopping online. You have special offers being done by all the big firms. We can’t compete with that."
For his staff, who have spent decades behind the counters, Tuesday will be a sad day," he said.
One of his employees, Ollie Murphy, has been by his side since leaving school offering 46 years of expertise, Mr Mahon said.
While, Ann Byrne will miss the "no seriousness and a little bit of the chat" after 37 years.
"The boss was so good to us," she said, adding "he was kind".
Antoinette Sutton, who has worked in the shop for half a century, echoes these sentiments.
"We were treated with respect, and we treated him with respect," she said.
Ms Sutton said the closure will be a "big loss".
Ms Sutton said: "Every day it’s gut wrenching because you’re looking at the empty shelves.
"You stand and think about all the people who worked here over the years and the people who came through here.
"We are bringing people around to see the building. They will never see the like of it again."
Eileen Doyle, who started in Duffy’s in 1967, also said she has watched families grow up before her eyes.
She saw the introduction of the decimal system and the change from pound to euro.
Mr Mahon said he sees his team as "all one big family" - a family who shared dinner in the adjoining kitchen daily.
"We got on great," he said.
"We never had a row or criticised each other. We had a fabulous time. They were great people."
Mr Mahon said he will miss the busy, hectic times in days gone by in which they stayed open until 9:30pm.
"I liked the buzz around Christmas," he said.
"People had a few quid for Christmas. They were tough times".
He said that they often bought products with an exact customer in mind.
"It was that kind of shop. We looked after people," he said.
The team has been blown away by the "fantastic" response from the community.
"I have been very impressed by the people," Mr Mahon said.
The staff of Duffy’s also looked after their neighbours, according to next door business owner Raymond Healy.
"We always looked after each other and popped in and out as the years went by," said the hairdresser.
"A lot of people are sad about it, but everything comes to an end. It will be sad to see the blinds pulled down," he added.
Ruth McDermott, from the Gift Gallery which is situated next door, said that even something as simple as sharing runs to the post office was important to her.
"I’ll miss their presence on this street," she said.
Councillor Will Paton, who grew up on Mill Street just only a couple of metres from the business, said "it one of those shops that was just a total institution".
"It seems like it was always there. I think the outstanding thing for me as a child was the old mechanical pulley payment system they had," he recalled.
"The money would into the system and shot across the roof of the building over to the cashier, where the bill was checked," he said.
"You would feel the 'whoosh’ and the system would bring back the change to the customer. As a child, that was totally fascinating," he added.
Mr Paton said the people of Tullow view the upcoming closure as "a major loss to the town".
"It will be a sad day. That building was once the life of the town."
Meanwhile, for the staff of Duffy’s, there are still goodbyes to be said, cakes to be cut and the last of their stock to be sold.
"That's the end of the chapter," Mr Mahon admits.
