Fresh out of college in 2009, Co Carlow native James Keogh faced the dilemma of trying to find a job in Ireland or emigrating.

While most of his classmates opted to move to the UK, Canada or Australia in search of work, the DIT graduate chose to stay in Dublin, taking a job with Ulster Bank.

At the time the economic downturn was seriously hitting his parents’ business – Rathwood destination centre – with revenues falling by €1 million to €2.9 million in the year following the crash.

The Rathwood centre was set up by Patrick and Carmel Keogh almost 20 years ago. The couple were small farmers making ends meet selling potatoes and working part-time with the IFAC farm accountancy service. In 1994 they decided to transform their 3,500sq ft potato shed into a shopping emporium selling furniture and garden items, and the Rathwood centre was born.

Over the years the family revamped several times, adding a new restaurant and retail space totalling 30,000sq ft. Rathwood now consists of a garden centre, a retail centre, a 350-seat restaurant, a falconry and an animal park. It also runs seasonal activities such as the Santa train, started by Patrick six years ago.

Having worked many summers in the family business, James had learned firsthand about every department and travelled to trade shows around the globe. He decided to join Rathwood on a full-time basis in 2009 and lead it in a new direction.

“I didn’t want to see my parents lose something they had put their lives into.

“Turnover had fallen dramatically. The business was based on a model of high value goods such as furniture and giftware. I knew they wouldn’t be able to sustain that during the recession.”

Tuning into people’s changed buying patterns, James changed the business model to focus on “fivers and tenners” and a good retail experience. This involved getting people in for a great experience and to dine, and then up-selling from there.

“We decided to give people other reasons to come to Rathwood as opposed to just shopping. They could have a family day out, with something for everyone, and it wouldn’t be costly.

“We invested heavily in advertising which was something we hadn’t done before. We promoted our seasonal activities such as the Santa train and put the word out that it wasn’t costly.”

The plan worked, and last year saw the company back to pre-boom turnover with revenue up 10 per cent from 2012. James says the company is now bringing in revenues of about €4.2 million a year.

Rathwood is probably most famous for its Halloween train and Santa train activities – and last year it invested €100,000 into improving the experience for visitors.

“We launched the 2013 Santa train on September 1st last year, and sold 15,000 tickets in three hours. More than 45,000 tickets were sold overall.

“We noticed in shopping centres that there is a lot of queueing and waiting around to see Santa. We didn’t want that. We have no dead time. There is constant interaction.”

An additional 30 staff will be taken on this April for the Easter train, which is expected to attract 5,000 people.

“We hire a lot of actors and we let them do impromptu things. We focus on the pantomime of everything to give children the best experience. We’ve learned that it’s the kids that keep bringing the parents back, not vice versa.”

The 27-year-old also expanded the online furniture business into the UK last year, and he now has a distribution centre in Liverpool.

“My brother and I design all the furniture and we outsource the making of it to numerous different companies.

“We wanted to offer the same delivery service in the UK as we do here, but it was time consuming transporting all the furniture from here. We now service everyone in the UK in five days.”

James hopes to increase the number of events Rathwood holds this year to attract more people. The centre is hosting a vintage car show in May and a teddy bear’s picnic train during the summer, as well as various jewellery-making and cookery classes.

The business now has 60 full-time staff, rising to more than 150 at Christmas.

“Being so young it was hard being the boss and asking staff to go with changes. We maintained our staff numbers following the crash, but changed working times. I told staff that a lot more people would come to Rathwood if we changed our business model, and more people would mean more work. The staff started trusting me when I began delivering on the promises.”

How do his parents feel about him being the boss?

“They are still the bosses really. Everything we have done over the last few years has been a family effort. My brother Thomas joined us full-time this year. He does the online side of the business and we get on very well.”