Maeve O’Mara and Liam O’Neill were just stopping in Minnesota from Ireland on their way to Australia when they came to St. Paul and decided to stay and settle down.
Their decision to stay culminated in the purchase of Irish on Grand in 1990 then located at 790 Grand Avenue. They loved the neighborhood and the fact that gifts, crafted in their homeland of Ireland were being imported and sold in this historically Irish town.
After assuming ownership, they quickly outgrew their location due to an ever expanding inventory of gifts and foods from Ireland. Additionally, finding a parking spot in close proximity to the 790 Grand location was difficult – if not impossible.
Maeve and Liam knew they needed to move to a location that would provide the additional space and parking they required to grow the business. Thus, in 1997, they moved to the current 1124 Grand location where they have been retailing their Irish imports ever since.
In order to keep their inventory of woolens, jewelry, pottery, glassware, foods and other Irish products up to date, Maeve and Liam regularly venture back to Ireland to see how the products they stock are made.
On a given day, you can find Maeve or Liam and their 2 employees stocking shelves, brewing tea or having good “crack” (Irish for conversation) with their many patrons.
To get a feel for the number of products that Irish on Grand has, you can view the store inventory online at: http://www.irishongrand.com/. Or better yet stop in their hours are Mon.-Wed. Fri.-Sat. 10am – 6pm, Thu. 10am – 8PM and Sun. 11am – 4pm!
As Maeve said, “You don’t need to be Irish to come into Irish on Grand” so stop in and lose yourself in Ireland right here on Grand Avenue!
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