The Start
We are a small family-owned business that got our start back in 2003.
About
When we first opened, we started out with three 8 foot tables on the road doing local Irish Festivals. At the time it was just a fun weekend adventure but after a while we decided to take the leap and open a store front. We opened our store right before the great recession of 2008. Being a new business at that time was scary but luckily we survived and were able to grow our business into the store you see today!
Family Owned – Women Owned – Veteran Owned
The Dou Days
Tory our fearless leader grew the business for many years all by herself with the help of friends and family along the way. Taking a brief break to serve our country as part of the army reserve, Tory came back stronger then ever! She fought her way to the top in a male dominated industry getting recognitions from the North American Celtic Trade Association and more! Stepping up to the plate in later years is daughter Emily who now helps to run the show. Emily has grown up in the business and earned the respect of many prominent Irish Names with her hard work both in the store and on the dance floor as a competitive Irish Dancer!
Now as a Mother Daughter Dou, We work hard together to grow the business. At the end of 2018 we took on a big project and decided to open a second store front in downtown Frederick Maryland. With our grand opening less then 3 months after we took over the space we completely flipped our little location in to a cozy Irish boutique you see today. It was no easy feat but we finished just in time for our grand opening, St. Patrick`s Day Weekend!
The good, the bad, and the days to come
2019 was an amazing year and 2020 was set up to be even better! We started the year off as always with our annual tradeshow/buyers event over in Ireland. Every year we go there to find all the best products to bring back and stock in the stores for you guys! We had planned one of our custom tours to Ireland set up for October, with CIE. Our tours are always a fan favorite and then Covid hit… March is a pretty big month for us wee Irish shops, we personally were celebrating our 15 year anniversary in Gettysburg and our 1 year anniversary in Frederick that month as well as St. Patrick’s Day and on March 12 we were completely closed due to Covid-19 for months!
We started to lose hope, there were no more road festivals, no in person shopping, Ireland was completely closed to exporting it seemed, we couldn`t bring in product for the little shopping that could happen. With a little luck, a lot of determination, the help of our amazing staff, and the amazing support of you, our customers both stores survived the pandemic closures. As time goes by we hope to continue growing the business and sharing all the love and knowledge we have of Ireland and Celtic culture!