Having served customers for over a century and rising from the ashes several times during the Troubles, a chapter in the retail history of Derry will end next month.
McLaughlin's hardware store on the edge of the Bogside has been owned and run by the same family since 1913 and is believed to be the second oldest retail business in the city.
When James McLaughlin first opened its doors in 1913, customers were drawn from a city with a population of just 40,000, a number than has more than doubled in the 111 years since.
It was like many traditional hardware stores across Ireland, somewhere you could buy virtually anything, and where staff had an uncanny ability to find the smallest and most obscure requests.
"People always said you could get anything here, from a needle to an anchor," says Seamus McLaughlin, one of three brothers who are the third generation of the family to work in the store.
"I think that’s why we’ve been so successful over the years, because we have catered for the public, and our customers have looked after us of course over the years."
On the day RTÉ News visited last week, Joanne Dickson was leaving the shop with a box of China mugs as we arrived.
"It is sad, I wanted to call on it before it shut, just to see them again, because it was part of your growing up," she said.
"I’ve been coming here for years. You could ask for the strangest thing and no matter what it was they would say, 'what colour and what size do you want it in'?
"My granny and my mammy and everybody would have went. People have to retire some time, but it's sad to see it go. It’s a big change for the town."
The current front window display has items ranging from a teapot to a blowtorch.
Historic photographs of the shop and surrounding area fill one wall, reminders of more than a century of retail service as well as its troubled past.
At one point the business operated from three separate premises in William Street, but all three were completely destroyed during the early years of the Troubles.
They were then consolidated into one larger store on the current site on the street.
The brothers, Seamus, Liam and Dessie, have now decided that it’s time to close the doors for good and have sold the building.
"We just think it’s time to call it a day," explains Seamus McLaughlin.
"Liam's been here 51 years, Desi 50 years, I'm here 40 years, so we've done quite a bit behind the counter."
He concedes that locking up on the final day will be tough.
"It certainly will be hard," he says.
"But that's the way it is. We've enjoyed it. We've had bad times, we've had good times, so you have to move on.
"We’ll miss the customers because we’ve known many of them for many years. We’ve had some down three generations. We were told a story recently about a woman in her eighties who bought a pot for her mammy when she first worked in the shirt factory a way back and I think the pot is still in use by the great grandchildren, so that’s very nice.
"Some customers have been very sentimental about it, saying they don’t know what they’re going to do when we’re gone. That’s nice to hear."
It will also be the end of an era for Julie Dawson, who has worked in the store for 28 years and manages the homeware section.
She’s a familiar face and a bit of a character, regularly standing at the large front window to wave at customers as they walk past.
"I have great memories, and I’ve had a job for 28 years, which is amazing," she says.
"And I've met such amazing people that are my friends also, my customers are my friends too, so I'm gonna miss that too.
"And I’m gonna miss my window, waving at everybody, which I do. It’s part of the community."
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