The iconic Galway business has seen many changes since it first opened in 1940

Tomás, Sarah and Tom Kenny

Tomás, Sarah and Tom Kenny

It has been a bittersweet end to 2025 for the Kenny family, the owners of the iconic Galway city bookshop. Days after gathering to celebrate an incredible 85 years of bookselling, the Kenny family were once again joined by staff past and present, colleagues and friends for an altogether more sombre occasion – the funeral of Dessy Kenny.

Remembered as an “outstanding” bookseller and a “great storyteller”, Dessy Kenny was an integral part of the Kennys team. A son of the the business’s founders, Des and Maureen Kelly, Dessy spent his entire life working in the family business.