It's the end of an era for a Dublin landmark as the For Sale sign goes up on Churchtown Stores.

The Braemor Road hardware shop run by the Flood brothers has been the “go to” source for a vast swathe of perplexed south Dublin homeowners since it opened in the 1960s.

Unchanged in nearly all that time, the eclectic haven of drill bits, bulbs and plants is now on the market for €950,000 through Vincent Finnegan.

The old school store has ranked consistently highly as a reader favourite in the Irish Times annual Best Shops competition since its inception. Loyal patrons return again and again for its endless stock and no-nonsense advice from Barry, Kieran and Fehan Flood. Until recently the shop employed 20 people, while the ubiquitous technology revolution somehow bypassed Churchtown Stores. Transactions are conducted via a rudimentary cash till and back-of-an-envelope sums.

We’ll not see its like again.