Killarney store to celebrate 40 years in business next month

But Macbees, as it is now, might never have come about if it wasn’t for a retail swerve by founder Mary McBride. A trained pharmacist, she had been offered a space on New Street, Killarney to open a chemist shop. But having grown up above a drapery – and learning the trade since the age of 5 when she sold her first customer a pair of nylon stockings – she decided to swap dispensing medicine bottles for dressing mannequins, and has never looked back since.

Now in a much larger premises down the street, with the very first recruit still a valued member of the dedicated Macbees team, the business is run by Mary’s daughter Aoife and Doranne Hickey. It has grown to become a bastion of style, championing Irish labels and always seeking out new talent to add to its edit of more than 60 established and emerging fashion brands.

At the anniversary event on 12th October, Celia Holman Lee will be hosting a retrospective fashion show, which will include a curated selection of archival Macbees pieces from designers such as Louise Kennedy, John Rocha, Kenzo, Christian Lacroix and many more, modelled by Macbees’ cherished customers themselves.

All of this will be alongside a showcase of the team’s favourite looks for AW24 to include Stine Goya, Essentiel Antwerp, Celia B, AndTate and Roisin Linnane and so much more with models from the Holman Lee Agency.

Guests will be invited to enjoy the show while sipping delicious drinks served by the duo behind Valentia Island Vermouth in the flower-filled boutique.