The chief executive of Clerys smokes cigars, drinks coffee right up to bedtime and never gives interviews. Until now that is. As the venerable Dublin department store shakes off an old-world image it has appointed a new marketing manager, given McConnells Advertising the job of promoting the new image and embarked on a £10 million refurbishment plan financed from its own funds.

"We keep to ourselves. This is the first interview I have given to anybody. I keep a low profile," says Mr Denis Ryan.

On the second floor, Mr Ryan's spacious office overlooks the GPO and Penneys, the only other fashion retailer on what was once Dublin's premier street.

"I have always said that when we are making maximum utilisation of our existing retail space, then I will give up this office," he says.

Clerys targets the 25-40-year-old age group which provides 80 per cent of its business. He describes "the broad range" that the store offers, which now includes having your feet done by the chiropodist; or your hair by the in-store hairdresser, while it has 35 concessions outlets. Those which are unique to the store are Country Casuals, Jumper, Bay Trading and Liberty Fabrics.

"It is really to get the concept of Clerys across to them that we are modernising our logo. There is no doubt that the growth of the market in ladies fashions has been very successful for us in recent years."

Clerys, which has retail space totalling 120,000 sq ft in its anchor store, has also quietly branched out, to Leopardstown with its, At Home with Clerys furnishings store, covering 10,000 sq ft, and its 13,000-sq-ft fashion shop in The Square, Tallaght.

"We would envisage expanding At Home with Clerys. We would be looking for suitable sites around the country for the furnishings concept," he says. The company which is controlled by a group of trustees, including the deputy chairman, Mr Arthur Walls, also owns the Guineys stores on Talbot Street. The group's turnover will rise to £35 million this year, Mr Ryan predicts, up from £18.75 million in 1995 when it made a pre-tax profit of £795,000.

Everybody in the country seems to have been to the flagship store at one time or other, he adds, and it has a loyal, if older, customer base. But the perception of Clerys bothers Mr Ryan. "Some people's perception of Clerys is what it was like five or 10 years ago," he says.

He describes "the classic example" as December 8th, the traditional day for country people to come to the city to shop. "The reality is that December 8th has been one of the least busiest shopping days for years. It has become a fact in people's minds and they do not come into town," he says.

The company's market research has shown that customers are ambivalent about change and have "enormous affection" for the store. "They do not want the integrity of Clerys, the service of Clerys, to change, but they want the ambience, for want of a better word, to change. We were a little bit gloomy, I suppose, and dark."

The new slogan is "Rediscover the value of Clerys of Dublin". "We want people to have a look at Clerys, not to rely on their perception," he says

He is careful to stress that the O'Connell Street building's architectural features will be maintained. The building dates from the 1920s, and is modelled on Selfridge's of London, after the original Clerys shop was destroyed during the 1916 Easter Rising. "We are retaining all the features. We are improving the lighting. The lighting is the most important thing. We were constrained by our lighting capacity in the past, and it was not up to standard."

The replacement of an ESB substation with an upgraded one will provide the power for recessed lighting which will expose the original ceiling plaster work. An air conditioning system is also being installed.

Clerys has weathered tough times. Dating from the middle of the last century, its present name dates from the ownership of Mr Michael John Clery, a Limerick businessman, who bought the store for £32,000 in 1883. After 1916, the new building "was a notable addition to the fine street it adorns", according to a 1922 advertisement. Clerys was bought by Denis Guiney for £250,000 in 1940. He is succeeded by his wife, Mary, who is now aged 98.

As soon as a new affluence emerged in the 1960s, Nelson's Pillar was blown up. Its destruction became a symbol of the decline of O'Connell Street as fastfood eateries became prevalent and the thoroughfare lost its genteel appeal to the southside. Most recently, Bord Failte's main tourist office relocated to St Andrew's Street and the Jervis Street Shopping Centre opened.

"The fact that we are still here and that we are still in the same ownership indicates that we changed and we survived. We made the necessary adjustments to survive, but it certainly does highlight the dilemma of O'Connell Street. An awful lot of developments in O'Connell Street have taken place without people accepting the effect they have had on it. There was a tendency to overlook O'Connell Street and develop other areas," he says.

Along with Easons, Clerys has retained its flagship store on Dublin's main street and Mr Ryan is proud that shutters have never gone down on the windows. "We always have the windows so that people can look in, and we have spent a lot of money in recent years on the Christmas animation in the windows."

He welcomes Dublin Corporation's plan to redevelop O'Connell Street, but is against tax benefits being provided to encourage retailers to move to the former Carlton Cinema site, which may be developed as a shopping centre.

"We have a voice. How effective it is remains to be seen. Yes, I would be optimistic about O'Connell Street in the long term, but I would like some consideration about the short term".

He bemoans the frequent disruption of O'Connell Street from festivals, parades, civil disputes and, last week, the Tour de France. "There is a lot of disruption in O'Connell Street. People do not realise the impact that this has . . . The cumulative effect of all the things that happen in O'Connell Street is what affects us," he says.

The rapid expansion of the retail business in recent years has also put Clerys under pressure. In 1996 alone, retail space in the Dublin area increased by 23 per cent. Business is good, but when you increase that much in retail space, it does create problems," he says.

Mr Ryan (60) has been with Clerys for 19 years and a director since 1990. He is the only board member who is not related to the owners, the Guineys. Mr Ryan is originally from Baileboro, Co Cavan, but his mother moved to Dublin in 1950 following the death of his father. "When it comes to cheering for an all-Ireland team, it is still Cavan," he says. He went to school at Westland Row CBS and served articles with Peterson Morrison & Co, which has since evolved into Pricewaterhouse-Coopers. He then worked as an accountant in the printing and publishing industry, with B&I, RTD Holding and Lees of Dun Laoghaire before joining Clerys as company secretary in 1978.

In 1992, he was appointed chief executive, and had a brief respite before being beset by a series of problems. He cites the currency crisis of 1992, the exceptionally high interest rates, VAT increasing from 16 per cent to 21 per cent. "I think I had a three-month honeymoon and then suddenly the ceiling came in," he says.

He drinks Club Orange when out socially, and he plays "a bit of golf", bridge and chess. "I played chess competitively for a number of years and quite a lot of it was psychological, assessing your opponent. You were weighing up your opponent as much as weighing up the game," he says.