The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
RETIREMENT is still not an option for 78-year-old Killaloe shopkeeper Jimmy Whelan, despite reaching 50 years in local retailing on Friday. Jimmy still loves meeting his loyal customers in Whelan’s Foodstore at the bottom of Main Street, Killaloe, as much as he did when he opened a small shop in Church Street in January 1964. Then aged 27, he rented this building, which included the shop, a small kitchen and two bedrooms at a cost of £2 weekly. Jimmy never envisaged he would transform the old Kincora Dance Hall into a thriving business, while he was playing the button accordion with the Jimmy Whelan Dance Band at this venue from 1964 to 1970. His current premises, which is located nearby, became renowned as a popular entertainment venue during the construction of the Shannon Scheme in Ardnacrusha and throughout the ’30s. Two West Clare brothers opened a supermarket there in 1970 but were forced to shut down following a fire a …
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