{"id":520126,"date":"2026-06-26T20:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T20:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/520126\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T20:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T20:51:11","slug":"the-queen-of-blanch-roselawn-newsagent-owner-retires-after-25-years-running-independent-business-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/520126\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Queen of Blanch\u2019: Roselawn Newsagent owner retires after 25 years running independent business \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is like something of a coronation. On one of the hottest days of the year so far, swathes of schoolchildren from St Francis Xavier National School in Blanchardstown<\/a> file into Roselawn Newsagents. One by one, they emerge with colossal whipped ice creams that would make an Italian gelateria blush. <\/p>\n

Inside, owner Carmel Felle expertly works the softly humming 99-machine with the relaxed confidence of someone who\u2019s done this a thousand times. She is set to retire next week and today the schoolchildren feast on 99s for just 99 cent. <\/p>\n

\u201cOh thousands \u2013 I reckon I\u2019ve made a thousand today alone,\u201d Carmel said with a twinkle in her eye, when I ask her how many 99s she reckons she\u2019s made over the course of her time running Roselawn Newsagents. She became the owner of the premise in 2000, having worked there since 1990.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was difficult,\u201d Carmel recalls about the early years. \u201cI was on my own with two small children, but I had my mother behind me.\u201d Carmel\u2019s son, Shane, described the newsagent as a \u201cthird sibling\u201d while growing up. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to know where to rest your eyes inside the shop. Light streams through stacks of Tupperware filled with gummies like a stained-glass window, while back-to-school stationery supplies adorn a shelf opposite the counter. Yet it\u2019s impossible to avoid the crown jewels of Carmel\u2019s establishment; a floor-to-ceiling display of more than 100 print publications. <\/p>\n

\"CarmelCarmel Felle with her beloved print publications. Photograph: Paulo Nunes dos Santos <\/p>\n

\u201cOn a Saturday, we sell 135 Irish Times, similar with the Independent, the Mail will be 49 or thereabouts,\u201d Carmel says proudly, adjusting an already immaculately displayed selection of newspapers. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have an interest in print. My print, that\u2019s my forte,\u201d she says. \u201cI love newspapers, magazines, all of it.\u201d <\/p>\n

She notes that larger franchises have \u201cput the emphasis off print, which is very sad\u201d. <\/p>\n

The issue spurred Carmel to become president of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (CSNA) in 2014. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere were so many people saying that print was dying, and I was saying the opposite, and I was proving the opposite,\u201d Carmel says. \u201cI went around to business shops and owners and tried to encourage them to put the work into it.\u201d <\/p>\n

The relationship between Carmel and her customers clearly extends beyond business. In early 2020, during the first Covid-19 lockdown, Carmel hand-delivered newspapers to more than 60 customers daily for several months. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of elderly people that would be very afraid to come out, so we suggested to them that for free of charge, we\u2019d get them their paper,\u201d says Carmel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was as comedic as you can imagine,\u201d Shane adds. \u201cWe\u2019d have the papers hanging out of the boot of the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe just thought it was important \u2013 she knew all these people and thought, in this moment of need, I can be with them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Every customer in the shop has a different memory about Carmel and the newsagent. David Condron (50) has been coming to Roselawn Newsagents for 40 years, since he was a child. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a hub of people, social contact, a lot of people would have shopped here for many years, and their children create the cycle of life,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

Carmel says: \u201cI have one girl working here at the moment, and her sister and brother worked before her, and their mother before them.\u201d <\/p>\n

Before leaving, I ask Carmel about her nickname \u201cQueen of Blanch\u201d, which Shane had told me about. She laughs, and is too humble to accept the title, but as she dashes back into the shop and is swept away by another throng of customers, there is no small sense that this is a business owner who will be missed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is like something of a coronation. On one of the hottest days of the year so far,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[613,72,61,60],"class_list":["post-520126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-blanchardstown","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}