Dublin dolls' hospital reopens in new home

PORCELAIN DOLLS and wax dolls, tiny tea sets and big fluffy teddy bears were all settling into their new home yesterday, as the much loved Dolls Store and Hospital – which many had feared would close forever – reopened in Dublin city centre.

The Dolls Store on George’s Street said in early February that due to increases in rent, rates, utilities and insurance, it would close after more than 80 years.

After something of a doll-and-teddy-lovers’ outcry and amid offers from all over the country of new premises, an offer from Mary Larkin, manager of the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, caught owner Melissa Nolan’s attention.

“Mary came in and and spent about two hours looking at all the dolls and toys, and I think was so moved by all the customers coming in – some were crying. She came back to us with an offer that was very attractive.” The offer was a very attractive space – the former ballroom in the 18th-century centre on the second floor.

Yesterday found the high-ceilinged room filled with children and well-wishers, including Gertrude Kiersey (97) from Kevin Street, who has been a customer since she was 23.

Her first doll was “shot” into her cot in 1916 when she was nearly one. Her family had lived in Harold’s Cross, she said, and as rebels were running across the canal from the city centre they were shot at by British troops. “One of the bullets went in my bedroom window and shot the doll into my cot. I still have it,” she said. “It’s a French doll and my mother got it from her father when she was four.” She had been “very upset” when she heard the store was closing.

Ms Nolan, who has owned the store for 28 years, had not been fully aware of how much the store meant to people. “There is a lot of sentiment attached to dolls and teddies. We love doing the repairs. They are so important to people.”