During the 70 years of operations, Woolworths established itself at the heart of Irish shopping and stores sourced about 80% of their range locally, offering Irish equivalents to the items usually carried in Woolworths stores in Britain.

Plans for an outlet in the industrial north had continued despite the outbreak of World War I, with a new opening on High Street in Belfast on 6 November 1915.

When news broke in April 1984 that the Grafton Street branch had been sold for IR£4.75 million few were surprised.

It occupied a prime spot, and its IR£1.6 million annual turnover had long been eclipsed by its neighbour across the River Liffey in Henry Street, where sales had just topped IR£4m for the first time.

Grafton Street had the equivalent of 30 full-time staff, all of whom were given the option of redundancy or a transfer to a neighbouring store.

[5] On 25 July 1984, Woolworths announced it would withdraw from the Republic altogether, arguing that almost all of the stores were loss-making and could no longer be considered viable.

Semi-state bodies such as Córus Trácthála Teo (CTT), which championed the efforts of many small manufacturing concerns supplying Woolworths, were also oddly silent.