Andrea sees bright future for Claremorris

An accountant by trade, Andrea Kean has recently returned to Mayo to work in her family’s business. The Claremorris native now works alongside her two brothers in the family’s well known home and garden store in the town, which was established in 1905.

Andrea has a deep-rooted love for her town and community, something which has led to her involvement in the local Chamber of Commerce. We sat down to chat about her move back west and why she loves being home and working with her family.

Angelina:  Andrea, thanks for talking to me. Tell me a little about yourself.

Andrea: I'm born and bred in Claremorris, Mount Street to be exact. I went off to college in GMIT in Galway in 2004 and studied there. Then I went to Dublin and I got placed in an accountancy firm, and I did my chartered accountant exams. That took quite a while, but I got there in the end. They're not easy exams. I qualified and I was delighted. 

Through a contact in the accountancy firm that I was working for originally, who were more like a family to me in Dublin, I was directed to another job - I went working for a high net worth person and I gained more experience there. All in all, I was 15 years living in Dublin, and returned in the last three years to the west of Ireland.

Angelina: What drew you to the accountancy side of things, Andrea? Was that down to the family business?

Andrea: I had a fantastic set of friends in college, and a couple of them actually went down the accounting route. It was a very sensible thing to go and do. I actually did work experience when I was in transition year in an accountants, and I remember coming home saying, "That is not for me, I shall not be doing that." 

It's funny where you end up, but I actually think it gave me a practical base in the whole business. When you know the intricacies of how the financial side work or have a good grasp on that, you will do well one way or the other. It's hard to go into a business and not know about the financial side of things.

Angelina: Your family has a great tradition in business in Claremorris that stretches back a long number of years.

Andrea: We're here since 1905, so it'll be 120 years here next year, which is quite unbelievable. This building we are sitting in was the original shop. There was another brother of my great granddad, Leslie, located down in James Street, and then this shop opened in 1905. 

We're the fourth generation of the business now, which is quite unusual. But it started from a very small base, literally a small grocery and a little bit of a pub in the back of it, which was the case for a lot of businesses up and down the country. 

I remember the old shop, and we're just obviously thrilled for it to be the size that it is now, but that's due to a lot of hard work by my parents and by my brothers, and there's an incredible staff as well. They've really felt part of the family. It's gone from strength to strength, so we're very lucky. 

Albeit, I haven't been working directly in the business up until recently. But growing up in it and being around it, you were always involved. I've always had my foot in the door. I know what's going on, and I'm interested in the business. I've been working in the shop since I was about 14 years old. I have really good memories of sitting downstairs and my grandmother counting cash when I was at no age. It's a tradition - some people are from farming backgrounds and other people are from different backgrounds, but this is our background and that's always what we knew. 

On top of having really good staff, we've had fantastic customers generationally, and they're still coming in saying, "I remember you when you were this age". It's lovely because that's a special element of being part of a family business and being from a west of Ireland town. People do know you and feel invested. We're invested in them, and they're invested in us, which is lovely.

Angelina: When did you move back, Andrea?

Andrea: I moved back three years ago. I had a baby in 2019, and we moved back then the following year. My husband's a Garda, and we were delighted when he got stationed in Galway. We always both knew that we wanted to come down west again near our families and to have that support. We were grateful that it happened quickly. I was working remotely at that time because of Covid. And recently I started working in the family business on a full-time basis.

Angelina: You're the current President of Chamber of Commerce, Andrea - Claremorris is a very fast growing town.

Andrea: It was recorded as the second-fastest growing town in the west of Ireland in the last census. It is going from strength to strength. There's a really good group of people involved in the Chamber. Claremorris is really well positioned in the west of Ireland. It's very well-connected in terms of roads and rail, hopefully even more so with the Western Rail Corridor and obviously Ireland West Airport. 

We're really trying to position ourselves as a great place to live, work and do business in. It's so accessible for Galway, Athlone, you're only an hour and 45 minutes away from Limerick. It is a town on the up, and I would like to feel that I'm part of that.

Angelina: Do you enjoy that side of things, Andrea?

Andrea: Definitely, and again, I suppose that's my dad's influence whereby I was involved in getting funding for the Christmas lights in the town last 20 years. He's ignited that feeling of responsibility in me around the town itself. The town has been good to us, so we need to be good to the town. At the end of the day, I have two small girls and I'd like them to feel that they're living in a nice town and as I said, the town has been good to me, so I want that to be regenerated.

Angelina: Have you enjoyed being back in Claremorris, Andrea?

Andrea: Absolutely. It's all well and good living in Dublin, and I know that there's loads of opportunity there, you always feel that everything is on your doorstep, but you're still travelling to get everywhere, especially having kids. It's obviously brilliant having my parents around for that support. Myself and my husband always said we want to have things in common with our kids, as in, we grew up in the west of Ireland, and it's very much ingrained in who we are, and we wanted that for them as well. I think there are so many fantastic facilities around the west, and I actually think there's a real positive feeling in Mayo as well. Mayo people go far and wide, and I think they wear the badge proudly. I'm definitely one of those people, although my husband's a Galway man!

Angelina: What drives you, Andrea?

Andrea: My two girls keep me driven. My husband's very good in terms of support. The family business has ingrained a really hard work ethic in the three of us siblings. When it comes to pushing on, you do it without even realising you're doing it. 

I think people would say to me, "Oh God, you're always busy, and you're always running here and running there", and I am, but I think I wouldn't know how to sit still also. 

I can see the potential in things - I can see such potential in the shop, and I see such potential in the town - I like when things are moving in a positive direction and I think that's good for everybody. I'm not doing anything on my own, there's loads of people around me. We've a really good committee in the Chamber at the moment, and I love that there is younger people involved and we can draw on the experience of some of the members who have been involved for a longer period.

Angelina: What would you say to people wanting to take a step into their own business or putting a stamp on a family business?

Andrea: I'd say you need to ask advice from sensible people around you. The likes of the Chamber is a good place to start, in my opinion, because a lot of the time you're networking with people who have walked the path before you. 

I think it's good to reach out to peers and people that have done it. Sometimes having that little bit of fear of failure isn't a bad thing because I think that keeps you on your toes and keeps you going. Even through the Chamber work, I've been so educated towards the Local Enterprise Office and all these resources that are actually out there that people might not know about. 

There are wonderful people out there that you can actually speak to if you go and look. You won't know the outcome of what's going to happen until you try, and you might fail, but you can learn from that and thrive. So many successful people have failed in the past and got right back up there. I did exams, and I had to repeat exams, and sometimes you often think, I'm going to throw in the towel with these, but it's good to kind of dig your heels and sometimes and say, no, I'm going to get through this, and it's going to be fine, and hopefully I'll see success at the end of it.