Originating as part of the Blarney Woollen Mills Group in 1963, the Kilkenny Group is Ireland's largest emporium of Irish designed products.
Marian O'Gorman is CEO of the Kilkenny Group. She has worked in retail since the age of 16, when she began working with her father Christy Kelleher, founder of the Blarney Woollen Mills group.
Gregory, the eldest of her four children, began working in the family business in 2003, initially as store manager of the Galway branch and then in marketing.
This year, he took over as marketing director, overseeing marketing and PR across the group as well as visual merchandising and logistics.
There are currently 11 Kilkenny shops located around the country in Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Cork, Tipperary, Meath and Kildare, as well as an online store.
Turnover for year ending January 2014 reached a record high for the group, totalling €25.5 million, while profitability for the year came to €971,000, an increase of 86 per cent on the previous year.
What was your "back-to-the-wall" moment and how did you overcome it? Marian: Most retailers might say the recession, but my "back-to-the-wall" moment came much earlier in 2001. At the time, we had only four stores in the Kilkenny Group and were much more reliant on the tourist trade. A number of things went against us in 2001 – tourism was seriously struggling because of the Foot & Mouth disease outbreak, the SARS outbreak and the September 11th terrorist attacks.
Along with this, we had inherited significant costs from the Kilkenny takeover of the Blarney Woollen Mills in 1999. But I had massive determination to make Kilkenny survive and we put a survival plan in place – we reduced our fixed and variable costs, including relocating our head office to Killarney and downsizing our warehouse.
What moment would you cite as the "game changer" or turning point for the company? Gregory: I think this would be branching out into shopping centres, opening our stores in Trim and Stillorgan in 2011. This gave us much more confidence in the domestic market and allowed us to see the value the brand had with Irish consumers. Marian: 2011 was also the first time the company made a profit so it was definitely a big year for us.
Were there any interesting or unusual circumstances surrounding the inception of the company? Marian: Kilkenny was originally set up by the government to support the struggling Irish craft and design industry, with two outlets located on Nassau Street and in Kilkenny City. We have always stayed true to this original ethos – our aim is always to support and grow the Irish craft and design industry and nurture Irish talent.
What were the best and the worst pieces of advice you received? Marian: The best piece of advice I got was to "run the company as if you're going to sell it". We cut costs, made more profit and the company has thrived. The worst advice was when someone also told me to "shut down the company, you won't make any money" – and here we are today. Gregory: The best advice I got was to double your ad spend during a recession to distance yourself from the crowd and capitalise on market share – which we did. I think this was an important part in the company's success and expansion through the recessionary years; we opened eight new stores between 2007 and 2013.
