{"id":118193,"date":"2025-10-12T23:15:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T23:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/118193\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T23:15:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T23:15:23","slug":"a-new-york-shop-selling-foxford-blankets-guinness-prints-and-sinead-oconnor-totes-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/118193\/","title":{"rendered":"a New York shop selling Foxford blankets, Guinness prints and Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor totes \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a warm weekday morning, East 9th Street in the heart of the East Village in lower Manhattan<\/a> is quiet. A tote bag with Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor<\/a> printed on it is visible from the window of a new homeware and gifts shop on the block, Irving Green. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Guinness is a bit of a giveaway,\u201d owner Alison Doyle says of the shop\u2019s roots, pointing to Guinness prints on the wall by Studio143. Like London, New York<\/a> is in the midst of a Guinness boom, and the prints are in high demand. Throughout the cosy shop, the Irish influence is pronounced. There\u2019s Adelle Hickey stationery, contemporary Claddagh-inspired jewellery by the Irish brand Don\u2019t Kill My Vibe<\/a>, and blankets by Foxford and McNutt.<\/p>\n

Irving Green is a venture by Doyle, a Dubliner, to bring quality Irish homeware products and gifts \u2013 classic and contemporary \u2013 to New York city, and to bring herself that bit closer to home. Although retail has been in her family, it\u2019s a new project for Doyle, who left her job in sales in a tech company to pursue a dream.<\/p>\n

During and after the pandemic, Doyle was working from home a lot. Now she\u2019s working in her store six days a week. One day off isn\u2019t much, \u201cbut I have much more interaction with people, more interaction with the neighbourhood … It\u2019s a much more creative outlet. I find it much better for my mental health to be able to interact with people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IrvingIrving Green Irish homeware and gifts store in New York <\/p>\n

The desire to be her own boss was strong. \u201cWorking for yourself \u2013 I don\u2019t think you can put a price on it … Corporate America just wasn\u2019t for me any more. I found it more and more stressful. I never fully got comfortable with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She had a \u201ckernel\u201d of an idea for a shop about a decade ago, but the timing wasn\u2019t right. Towards the end of last year, she began looking at spaces in the neighbourhood. Where she is now used to be a children\u2019s toy shop. One day, walking down the street, she noticed the shop and thought she would love a space just like it. A week later a friend called to say they\u2019d heard a space in the neighbourhood was coming up. It happened to be the very same one. Doyle wrote up a business plan, left her job at the end of January, by February was renovating the space, and opened in April.<\/p>\n

A key product is the Dublin brand Rathborne Candles, founded in 1488 on Winetavern Street, before moving to what\u2019s now called Prussia Street in Stoneybatter in the mid-17th century. \u201cThe story matters,\u201d Doyle says of the heritage of Irish brands. \u201cWhen you tell the story about the oldest candles in the world, people love that.\u201d <\/p>\n

She moves on to the Foxford blankets. \u201cKnowing where the blankets are made in a mill in Co Mayo, people love that story … You can go 10 blocks up and go to Crate & Barrel or wherever you want, but you have a certain shopper who comes into a store like this who wants the story behind an item.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AlisonAlison Doyle at Irving Green <\/p>\n

The East Village has been heavily gentrified in recent years, yet maintains its spirit. Independent businesses are so beloved in this part of town that when the buzzing restaurant Superiority Burger \u2013 a casual vegetarian diner regarded as one of the best restaurants in the city \u2013 opened on Avenue A in 2023, its cocktail menu was illustrated with advertisements paying tribute to local businesses, including Casey Rubber Stamps (run by an Irish man, John Casey, who set up in 1979 and moved the business from the West Village in 2003), Mast Books, and Academy Records. Recently, another new Irish business opened up on East 7th Street, Mary O\u2019s Irish Soda Bread Shop. Close by on St Mark\u2019s Place is Bar Bua, once Sin \u00c9, the Irish-owned cafe where Jeff Buckley held his famous early gigs.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Darren Aronofsky: ‘The East Village is very interesting, because it sort of fights gentrification’Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\"IrvingIrving Green is an Irish homeware and gifts store in New York <\/p>\n

When customers are pottering around Irving Green, Doyle says she will eventually tell them the shop is Irish-owned and that more than half the stock is brought in from Ireland. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not joking, I\u2019d say 98 per cent of the time they\u2019ll have a story about studying in Ireland, or that they\u2019ve been to Ireland, or are planning to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cool to be Irish at the moment,\u201d Doyle says, but also \u201cthe Irish thing always sells over here … There\u2019s always a warmth to a conversation when you bring up Ireland. We have that draw with people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HomewareHomeware and gifts in Irving Green <\/p>\n

Doyle has identified various criteria for what sells. Anything with Guinness ticks the box, and anything small that fits in the average Manhattan home. \u201cSize is important. People are living in small apartments.\u201d Prints by the Dublin photographer Ciaran Tully, who emigrated to New York in 1990, are popular too, especially his photograph of the nearby Immigrant Bar. \u201cPeople come in to buy that if they had their first date there, or met their partner there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doyle originally came to the city on a three-month internship. Before returning to Ireland, she attended a networking event at Glucksman House, NYU\u2019s centre for Irish and Irish-American studies. \u201cI met an Irish guy who had a software company and said if I wanted to get into tech, they had sales positions. Next thing I was processing a visa with them. I moved back April 2008, and stayed with that company for 8\u00bd years. I dipped back to Ireland at one point, but it didn\u2019t stick. I was back [in New York] again around 2017.\u201d Doyle was running a sales team when she \u201chad a inkling that I wanted to do something else. The creative side of me was calling. My outlet for design was small projects in friends apartments. I renovated an apartment a few years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although she now lives in Gramercy, East Village was home for years, bar a stint in Chelsea. \u201cEast side is more me. I think maybe because I\u2019m a northsider … I grew up in Artane, Dublin 5. I\u2019m from just behind Killester Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ProductsProducts for sale at Irving Green <\/p>\n

Doyle is inspired by Irish design shops, and the products sold in them. \u201cWe\u2019re one of the best in the world at these products. That\u2019s what I wanted to bring to New York. All over Ireland, stores in places like Dingle or Sneem, just beautiful gift stores, ceramics, pottery, there\u2019s such a cosy homeyness. We have some of the best products and homeware stores in the world.\u201d <\/p>\n

While she stocks plenty of newer designers, she has also noticed how younger people \u201cstill love and gravitate towards older brands. They love a Foxford blanket in their house. It\u2019s important to Irish people to have those pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DesertDesert Sky herringbone throw from McNutts of Donegal <\/p>\n

The tariffs<\/a> are a snag. Since the de minimis exception (initially meaning anything under $800) was removed by Donald Trump in August, Doyle, like anyone importing from Ireland, faces an additional 15 per cent increase.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I think about is Christmas right now. I want to get to a point where I\u2019m seeing customers come back in the door who have been here earlier in the year. I want to grow the customer base. I\u2019m finalising the website. I want to evolve the products where we bring more into the store but also seasonly change.\u201d <\/p>\n

She looks around her beautiful shop. \u201cI want it to be one of the most successful stores on the block for the holidays.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irish businesses in East VillageCasey Rubber Stamps\"JohnJohn Casey in Casey Rubber Stamps on East 11TH Street in New York\u2019s East Village. Photograph: Lauren Crothers <\/p>\n

Casey Rubber Stamps<\/a> is a rubber stamp workshop and shop on East 11th Street, beloved of local businesses, graphic designers, artists, and anyone who needs a stamp made. Equal parts charming and chaotic, the business slogan is \u201cWe may be cool, but we will never be hip\u201d. Casey makes stamps the old way, from a negative, plate, and a mould, using real rubber set on a wooden block. Casey sells countless stamp designs as well as making bespoke commissions.<\/p>\n

Mary O\u2019s Irish Soda Bread Shop\"BakedBaked goods: one of Mary O\u2019Halloran\u2019s home-made soda-bread scones <\/p>\n

Mary O\u2019Halloran opened Mary O\u2019s Irish Soda Bread Shop<\/a> in November 2024, having spent the pandemic making soda bread scones when lockdown closed her pub on nearby Avenue A (also called Mary O\u2019s). \u201cThere\u2019s no line!\u201d a scone-hunting TikToker exclaimed in a recent video. The shop has become characterised by large queues thanks to the only thing on the menu \u2013 scones \u2013 becoming a citywide hit. The scones come with a healthy dose of Kerrygold butter (more of a slice than a spread) and home-made blackberry jam. The shop is open Thursday to Sunday from 7am until the scones sell out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a warm weekday morning, East 9th Street in the heart of the East Village in lower Manhattan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[72285,18,117,11545,19,17,361,72284,969,1411],"class_list":{"0":"post-118193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-dublin-5","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-guinness","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-magazine","15":"tag-manhattan","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-us-tariffs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}