Lynbrook Irish Shop Stays True to its Roots

The Lynbrook Irish Shop is a family-owned and operated store where residents can buy authentic Irish gifts, crafts, clothing and more. 

Jennifer Derrig, owner of both The Irish Jewelry Company and The Lynbrook Irish Shop, spoke with Patch on Monday about the shop, the challenges it faces and how it has changed since it first opened in 2009. 

Tell us about yourself, your background and the business?

I have a degree in fine art and jewelry design. I started the online company first, called Irish Jewelry Company, which is more jewelry-orientated. 

When we moved here to Lynbrook (we live up the road) and we saw the stores available here, we thought ‘wouldn’t it be nice to open a store’?

I’m Irish and Italian, and my husband is Irish. We also have a house in Ireland.

What is it about Ireland and the culture that you love?

How it’s really kind of unique. Jewelry wise, there’s a multitude of things. You have the Claddagh ring, the Trinity Knot, the shamrock, Celtic knots, the Irish saints. It’s very specific and rich in symbolism. Everything has a tradition and story behind it.

When people get married, you give them a ‘make up bell’ which is an Irish tradition. When you fight you’re supposed to ring the bell, so it reminds you of your church bells on your wedding day and it’s supposed to remind you of why you got married in the first place.

So, everything has a reason and a traditional background or folklore to it.

What has changed the most since you’ve been here?

I think as more and more smaller shops go out of business and larger stores take over, like your Wal-Mart's and K-Mart's, people look at the pricing they are able to offer, not realizing the volume they are buying it in.

We, as a small shop, couldn’t possibly buy in that volume. So, what I’ve done is I try to stay away from the more commodity stuff, and I try to buy things from other small businesses, that are too small to sell to the majors like Wal-mart and K-Mart.  Maybe it is a retired couple making it in their garage. It’s made in Ireland, made in the USA, craft. As opposed to something made in China. I mean we do have some things made in China, and it’s unavoidable, but for the most part the children’s things, the clothing… all of that is made in the USA.

So, we’ve kind of had to differentiate that way, more crafty stuff, as opposed to more novelty things that you’d get in bigger stores.

What is your biggest challenge?

People go on an Amazon.com and they do price comparisons and it’s hard because you can’t really compete with that.

And I know from having an online business, that they are not necessarily dealing with the logistics of dealing with having overhead, having a storefront business, running advertising, etc.

So, they are able to offer things and buy in different quantities. You know, it’s just harder to deal with it. We don’t carry books anymore because you can’t compete with the cost of books which people can get on Amazon. Some of these books, I couldn’t even buy them for what they are selling for online. So, we don’t really deal with books or CDs anymore.

What are you most proud of?

In both businesses - the jewelry business and the store itself - I’m proud that I’ve been able to really stick with having true Irish stuff, either made by Irish people or made in Ireland. It’s hard to do that, but I’ve been really focused on that. 

We try our best to have a true Irish craft here. Like, we don't carry sweaters unless they are made in Ireland. We only buy from companies that actually manufacture in Ireland, which means we pay more money for our sweaters.

Anything else you’d like to add?

The Lynbrook Irish Shop is participating in the Shop Local Lynbrook Loyalty Card Program. The program, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, allows residents to receive discounts at local businesses, to encourage shopping locally within Lynbrook. 

Loyalty cards are available at various chamber merchant locations and through contacting the Lynbrook Chamber at www.lynbrookchamber.org.

The deal offered for the Lynbrook Irish Shop is 15 percent off any one item (excludes food and sale items, not to be combined with any other offer).