‘Working with family has a special dynamic’: One of country's oldest jewellers welcomes fifth generation

When John Ross bought a jewellery shop in 1899, he stipulated in the deeds that it would be in the family 'forever'. He has been proved right so far, says Sally McEllistrim

Heather and Alexandra O'Sullivan - the mother and daughter are the fourth and fifth generation of their family to work for John Ross jewellers in Tralee since it was founded.

The relationship between mothers and daughters is a unique one — if not always totally plain sailing — but at one of Ireland’s oldest jewellers, it’s all going sparklingly well.

John Ross Jewellers in Tralee, Co. Kerry, is in its 127th year, and the landmark family business is proudly fifth generation, an amazing feat at a time when so many businesses are struggling to stay in the high street amidst challenges like online competition and rising costs.

The shop, much beloved of Kerry people for generations, is run by first cousins Heather O’Sullivan and Sandrene Brassil, whose great-grandfather, John Ross, founded the business in 1899.

Now, 19-year-old Alexandra O’Sullivan, Heather’s daughter, has joined the business as the family circle continues to ensure it thrives and survives for even more generations.

Alexandra smiles as she recalls her first childhood memories of the shop, saying she took her role as ‘chief glass cleaner’ very seriously indeed.

“I remember always loving the atmosphere in the shop. It was the centre of my universe and where I wanted to be.

I just wanted to be part of everything and toddled around with a cloth and glass cleaner, wiping down the cabinets. I was delighted with myself; I had a role.

“Granted, I was surrounded by my family members, so I felt so safe and happy, but I really noticed the atmosphere. Customers were lovely, it always seemed so special, and I suppose now that I am older and really work here, I understand and appreciate the buying of jewellery is special as it marks all the milestones in people’s lives.”

Alexandra has great work colleagues at John Ross.

“My mother is quite literally a gem. I love working with her. She is the hardest-working person I know, and she does it all with grace and good nature. She has patience and a good sense of humour, which is always so important.

“People always comment on the fact that there is a warm and friendly atmosphere here, and that really comes from my mum and of course, my cousin, Sandrene.

A clock designed by John Ross in 1905, six years after he founded the jewellery business

“Mum is so knowledgeable about the jewellery business and is generous with that knowledge. She is very forward-looking, and has developed an app for our shop together with my brother, John, which has really been a massive achievement.

“We have customers all over the country and further afield, and it’s important for them to be able to shop safely online.”

Alexandra says she is “so grateful” to be working in the family business. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for me to learn the trade and make my mark. We are all encouraged to make suggestions and on how we can improve even more. It’s a business that is always evolving, and you can’t stand still.

"I don’t get any preferential treatment and that’s the way I like it. We have a great team here, it’s all female, and we’re known as the JR girls.”

The teenager says she is proud of her family’s contribution to the business community in Tralee. 

“It is lovely to hear people talk so fondly of my grandparents and other family members who have worked here. It’s busy and buzzing and we're almost always on the go. I wouldn't want to work anywhere else, or with anyone else, it’s where I feel I’m meant to be.”

Her mum, Heather, agrees. “Working with family has a special dynamic,” she says, “but really, I don’t know anything else.

“Personally, I feel it is a privilege to work with the people I love most. It’s wonderful to have Alexandra working with us now. We are all working for the same thing, the continuing success of John Ross Jewellers; it’s a team effort.”

Heather adds: “Like Alexandra, I grew up with the shop and loved everything about it, the gems, the customers, the fun, the lovely warm camaraderie amongst everyone who worked with our family. We have wonderful memories of the past and huge ambition for the future. 

"We never stand still; we are always brainstorming, always looking for new collections. We’re so in sync, we have the often-unspoken understanding that families share, and it’s a joy.

“We travel a lot to source new lines, but one of us is always in the shop.

We love the fact that we are continuing the legacy of our forefathers. 

"We are all exceptionally close. Not only do we have that familial love for each other, we actually like each other as people, and value the different, complementary qualities each brings to the business.”

The family embrace all the staff into their circle.

“The girls in the shop are part of our wider family too,” says Heather, “so many of them have been with us for years, and those who did work with us in the past stay in touch. There is a lovely continuity, their ancestors would have shopped here, for instance, you can’t beat those treasured links.”

Tradition is important to the family, who have a visible respect and love for their fifth-generation business and its founder.

Heather says: “People sometimes ask why we didn’t tear down our heritage shop front at some stage. There is absolutely no way we would ever remove or alter it. Not only does it look beautiful, but there is a meaningful connection as we use it on a daily basis.

Knowing that we are using the same door handles, displaying the same areas as our ancestors have touched and used, is so incredibly special to Sandrene and myself.

“We have two engraving machines, one is a modern laser affair, the other was purchased in 1952.

“I started working in the shop at the age of 11, taking out the type for my grandfather so he could engrave items. I remember him every time I use that machine. Also, when working at the bench on watches and jewellery, his gentle voice is always at the back of my mind, guiding me.

“The deeds of the building here in Lower Castle Street have some beautiful wording. They note that John Ross bought the building for his successors ‘forever’. What a wonderful gift to his future family. His hard work continues to support us five generations on. What a legacy.”

Alexandra echoes this, saying: “For me, it’s my great, great grandfather whose legacy I’m helping to continue. It’s truly incredible to think that we have stood the test of time. I would say he’s so so proud of us all, and here’s to many more generations of John Ross Jewellers.”

The remarkable life of John Ross 

When Scotsman John Ross, the founder of the jewellery shop that still bears his name, was 21, he decided to move to Ireland to start a business here.

The year was 1899, and he had qualified as a horologist (watchmaker).

He arrived in Ireland with his tools on his motorcycle — a new development on the bicycle — and travelled through the country until he reached a landscape that reminded him of his native Aberdeenshire: County Kerry.

John started his watchmaking business in a premises in Listowel that he shared with two other start-ups. In due course, he expanded the business into a premises of his own on William Street and lived above the shop.

The shop front of John Ross in 1899, the year the business was founded in Listowel

In addition to jewellery and watches, John sold musical instruments and gramophones. In fact, he is said to have sold the first ever gramophone in County Kerry.

John found love and married a Tralee woman, Ann Kelly. They lived and worked in Listowel until he expanded the business at the end of the First World War by opening a second shop in Tralee, the current premises at 4, Lower Castle Street.

During the War of Independence, in the Siege of Tralee in 1920, the shop front was damaged by gun fire.

In 1922, John bought a home in Ballyard, Tralee and the family moved out of Castle Street. The rooms above the shop were then rented out to tenants.

Always an innovator and adopter of new technology, John had electricity supplied to the shop as soon as it became available. The jewellers in Tralee is believed to have been the first shop in the town to benefit from electrification in 1929.

During the tough economic times of the 1930s, he diversified further by selling flowers from his garden outside the shop in wooden boxes. As people had very little money at that time, barter was a common form of payment — a farmer paying for his watch repair with eggs, for example.

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In that decade, running two shops became too much, and John took the decision to close the original Listowel business and focus all his efforts on Tralee.

As storm clouds gathered over Europe, he also took the wise decision to invest in gold and watch parts from Switzerland, which he ordered in bulk prior to the outbreak of war in 1939.

This foresight enabled him to continue to trade throughout the Emergency years, manufacturing wedding bands and watchmaking in Tralee. 

John and Ann Ross had five children, four of whom survived to adulthood. Ann unfortunately, had a brain haemorrhage in 1931 and spent the remaining decade of her life disabled by the condition. She passed away in 1941. John’s son Alexander and daughter Marie joined him in the business.

John Ross continued to work until his death in 1958, at which time his son Alexander took over. His wife Maureen sold her own business, a pork and bacon shop she had founded at the age of 21, and joined him at John Ross.

Alexander, son of John Ross, and his wife Maureen with their daughter Anne - the second and third generations of the jewellery shop business

Alexander and Maureen had three girls, Anne, Maud and Sandra. Anne started working in the shop at the age of 15 in 1958 and continued until her retirement 60 years later, in 2018. Sandra also joined the business and worked with her parents and Anne until 1983.

In the present day, the shop is run by Anne’s daughter, Heather, and Sandra’s daughter, Sandrene. They are still selling jewellery and watches to the people of Kerry and beyond. 

The resilience and innovation of their great-grandfather and all the generations in between are a constant source of inspiration, and Heather and Sandrene pride themselves in running the shop as a very modern business.

Just like John Ross had to grapple with wars, a pandemic, and depressions, so the latest generation have had to deal with their own pandemic and challenges such as Brexit.