Holistic store, therapy centre and Atlantis Éire magazine

A SET of traffic lights at Linenhall Street, Castlebar, has given the green light to the success of the Atlantis holistic store near the corner with Main Street, Castlebar, writes Tom Gillespie.

Run by Breaffy native Aldo Jordan and his partner, Helen O’Meara, from Ballyvary, they also have a holistic therapy centre upstairs and produce a bi-monthly holistic health and Celtic spirit magazine, Atlantis Éire.

Atlantis is a giftware, jewellery, clothing and lifestyle store who stock a large range of Freetrade products to suit all needs, from incense to cotton t-shirts, and a sweet sounding singing bowl to the majestic dream catcher.

But things were not always rosy for Aldo and Helen, the parents of four children aged from four to 12, who plan to marry later this year. At one stage Aldo was forced to sell his bicycle to pay a large ESB bill, at a time when he and Helen was expecting their fourth child.

Aldo explained: “We opened the retail shop in June 2010 in Newantrim Street. We were there for about two years. But unfortunately Newantrim Street was not doing well because of the recession.

“It was sink or swim so we moved to Linenhall Street. We are here four years now and this is a great street.

“If anybody said to me we will give you a unit on Main Street I would say no. The traffic lights are the winners here. People stop, they look in and they see a poster on the window and they might come back the next day or in six months. We have X amount of cars stopping outside every two minutes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Business is good.

“The shop is only a fifth of what we do. We have the Atlantis Éire magazine out nationwide. It is in 834 locations between the north and south since April 2015 (the first anniversary edition is out since April 1).

“It is based on everything from alternative holistic therapies to Irish folklore, Celtic history and archaeology. There are 54 people involved in the publication of each issue from all around Ireland.”

Helen continued: “We design and edit it ourselves. We oversee it 100%. It is designed and put together in this building. It is printed by Quinn’s in Belfast. We are a niche market. There is nobody else in town doing what we are doing.”

Helen told me how they got the business off the ground: “There used to be an indoor market in town and we booked a table there on a Saturday. We bought in a few things and said we would see how it goes. I have always being interested in Fairtrade. We got the kitchen table and every Saturday we stocked it at the indoor market.”

Aldo took up the story: “We used to take the legs off the table, turn it upside down and unsecure the bolts as the table would only fit in the back of the car with the legs off. We had a good interest from the general public, selling small items for €2 or €5.”

Helen said she was into Fairtrade clothing which she wanted to introduce into Castlebar.

“We found a supplier in England and we had a little rail beside the table and we had ladies coming in to try them on.”

Later they rented a showroom unit in Moneen and set up a website which attracted customers. Said Aldo: “That was the turning point. There was good interest in it and we wondered how a shop would go. It was a big leap. That was in June 2010. It was very slow and I remember a time came that I had to sell my bicycle to pay the ESB bill. I won’t forget that in a hurry.”

Helen added: “We said this was make or break for us so we moved to another street. We said we would give it a year or so and if we were still in dire straights we would pull the plug and go into something else. But thankfully since we came to Linenhall Street things have improved. Because we had come so far and put so much into it, we had to see it through.”

Aldo continued: “Failure was never going to be a part of it. We renovated the upstairs in Linenhall Street. So now we get healers coming in doing reiki, meditation, Theta healing, spiritual development, drumming circles, Shamanic healing, reflexology, bioenergy and a psychic medium. They come here from all over Ireland and they rent the room from us. We charge them to be here but we promote them and the rent is our insurance policy and those attending will pick up a few bits downstairs as well. It all adds up. There are quiet days here where you might take in damn all downstairs but we have the rent upstairs.”

Some 16 healers, etc., from all around Ireland regularly use the Atlantis therapy centre.

The Atlantis holistic store can be contacted on (094) 9028630, (086) 3750250, or via Faceboook at atlantiscastlebar, or atlantiseire, or the website, www.atlantisireland.ie.