Using GMB to support small businesses through challenging times

Mellon’s Shop & Deli has been in the Mellon family since at least 1920. It is truly a cornerstone more so than a corner shop of the community of South Lotts Road. My husband Colm Heneghan purchased the business from his mother Irene Mellon in 2003. When the recession hit in 2009 business became very quiet and so I quit my law career and joined forces with Colm in an effort to restore the business to its former glory. I am happy to say I have no regrets -the shop is thriving.

Our business means everything. We have a very loyal customer base both young and old. Because it is owner run and managed we are very particular about the products we sell both off the shelf but especially the fresh food we prepare in our new onsite kitchen for takeaway. We stand over our offerings and nothing but the best will do. Local Irish produce is stocked first if the quality is there. Customer service is key to our success and most of our energy goes into this. We want people to feel good after they leave our shop.

I started to actively use GMB at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic about a year ago. We were allowed to stay open as we were considered an essential service for our grocery part of the business but it was really the Deli & Coffee that was the main earner - and the main customers - builders and office workers were all working from home so no longer coming to Mellon’s Shop. I wanted to reach out to new customers, which were the local community now working from home and hoped Google would help me reach this audience.

It has been extremely helpful for informing customers of our opening hours and busy periods. It also allows me to showcase our fresh food and shop produced food products through pictures, so people can choose ahead of time what they may like for lunch and know how much it will cost.

As a result, we have built up a whole new customer base of people working from home - in fact a lot of them are Google employees and other surrounding tech companies. I can only assume that GMB has played a role in this in addition to social media and word of mouth. GMB allowed me to showcase our products and freshly prepared food and coffee. Give prospective customers a little insight to our shop and what we are up to on a regular basis.

We are about to launch a new click and collect website and we are very much focusing on expanding our online retail and takeaway food business.

Check out our website: https://www.mellonsshop.ie