The imminent closure of the last wallpaper shop in Dublin city centre is a clear sign that shopping habits have changed considerably.
Eamon Keane said the decision to close their family business, Gerry Keane Wallpapers, was because of a "natural end" to the business as he described how they were once one of seven wallpaper shops on Talbot Street.
"The shopping days of 40 and 50 years ago when the city centre was the go-to, it has changed. I mean, there is a shopping centre at every junction of the M50 now and more.
"That whole tradition of coming into town for everything, that has changed a bit."
He reflected on how different it was five decades ago when his father Gerry first opened this shop, because when people "were buying a house, you got a wallpaper allowance and you wallpapered every wall in the house".
"Today it is much more about a feature wall", he explained. "One feature wall or maybe the hall or behind the bed. Far from every wall."
Mr Keane said it is a nostalgic time for their customers as several generations of the same family have been coming into the shop over the years.
New businesses have recently opened on Talbot Street with more bars, restaurants, phone and vape shops at the forefront of the Georgian buildings.
"It is the end of an era," said one customer. "I just walked up and down there and looking at the shops and I would know very few of them," she said.
While popping into the city centre to purchase wallpaper is not as popular among shoppers nowadays, there are still some loyal customers.
Carol Goff who arrived into the shop with her daughter Katie reminisced about how she had been coming into Gerry Keane Wallpapers since her childhood with her mother.
"I would still have friends that would come in to buy wallpaper because their mams would have brought them in. You know brought in on the bus, a clatter of kids brought in to carry the wallpaper home."
The different types of wallpaper that featured in her first home also brought back vivid memories.
"Woodchip was a big thing. I am still trying to get it off the walls," she said, laughing.
Doris, who was in the shop to try and find the same gold lined wallpaper she bought around 12 years ago, described her attachment to the shop and the products.
"Wallpaper gives a cosy feeling and also is good for insulation," she said, while another regular customer Joe said he is devastated about the shop's closure. "It will be well missed," he said.
"It's part of the street. I have been in here for the past 20 odd years."
Similar to other long-running businesses in this part of Dublin city, staff at Gerry Keane Wallpapers have been working there "since early on".
They have also witnessed some difficult times from the economic downturn to the shock in the neighbourhood after the Dublin and Monaghan bombings on their doorstep in 1974.
Billy, who has been working at the shop for more than five decades, was inside at the time and received minor injuries during the blast.
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There is uncertainty around what will replace the wallpaper store when it shuts its doors after Christmas.
Mr Keane predicts it may eventually turn into "a mini Temple Bar" as he describes "a surge in hospitality" in the area.
As for the future for wallpaper, he acknowledges it dipped in popularity over two decades ago but believes that there has been a resurgence with "better quality and design" and also different patterns and prints coming back into fashion.
He said you have to run with the trends. He added wallpaper is a "sort of misunderstood product in that it's thought to be just DIY".
"It is as akin to fashion - colours, designs, textures. There is a lot more going on than just a paint colour. It needs to fit both the trends and the decor."
