As they pose for photos wearing some of their favourite looks from the autumn/winter collection at Standún in Spiddal, you’d never guess that sisters Cliona and Laragh were never anything but close.

Well…

“Growing up, we were at each other’s throats,” admits Cliona, who is three years older than her younger, and only, sibling.

Yet, having long moved past the teenage squabbles, this striking sister act have become the third generation to take on – and transform – their iconic family-owned shop, which is celebrating over 70 years in business in Connemara.

“We want it to still be here in another 70 years,” says Cliona, as she and Laragh sit with Irish Country Living to share their journey to date.

Established in 1946 by Cliona and Laragh’s grandparents, Máirtín and May, Standún started as a “one-stop shop” selling everything from bicycles to wellington boots, and at one stage had up to 700 knitters on the books exporting Aran sweaters to leading US department stores like Nordstrom and Lord & Taylor.

The business was later taken over by the girls’ dad, Donal, who along with their mother, Raymonde, restyled Standún to focus more on the tourist market, with best-sellers including Belleek and Waterford Crystal.

But while both sisters were involved in the shop from an early age, Cliona feels there was always the expectation that she would be the person who would eventually run the business.

“Growing up, it seemed that people always told me that I would take over and I never really had anything else in my head only that I would take over. I don’t think Laragh had that same experience,” reflects Cliona, who moved to London after studying business information systems at UCC, where she worked her way up to trainee manager at Harvey Nichols, before becoming a web developer with L’Oréal.

By 2010, however, with her parents ready to retire, she had to make the call between her London life or returning home to take the reins.

“I was 26 when I moved home and I guess it was more of a sense of responsibility at the time,” she says, acknowledging that it was a “tough” transition to make at such a young age. “But now I’m really glad that I did.”

Of course, what made it especially challenging was that due to the recession, Standún had suffered a significant decline in its once thriving tourist trade, which would have accounted for 80% to 90% of business at the time.

“We had to change direction for the survival of the business,” says Cliona, who worked tirelessly to expand the product range by adding more contemporary fashion, gift wear and accessories to attract more Irish customers, as well as staying open year round to transform Standún’s image from being just a “tourist shop”.

By then, Laragh was carving out her own career outside the family business as an assistant buyer in the ladies’ wear department of Dunnes Stores, having completed a postgrad in fashion buying and management.

“A huge part of my role was the administration and the logistics,” explains Laragh, though she also had a part in picking the collections, “from choosing the colours and design and embellishment.”

By 2012, however, she was also ready to return home, though, initially, her plans did not include Standún.

“I think it was mom that might have mentioned to me that Cliona has a lot on her hands,” she recalls of how the conversation first started – though she admits that the sisters did worry that working together might affect their relationship.

“We just didn’t want to risk falling out or anything like that because you do see so many families in business that do,” says Laragh, “but Cliona and I are lucky – we kind of have the same values and outlook on things.”

While Cliona is very business minded and takes responsibility for areas like HR, stock control, marketing and the online shop, Laragh is creative and strong on buying, merchandising and customer service.

Since the sisters have joined forces, they have seen their customer base shift to 60% Irish and 40% tourists, while they also employ 18 to 20 full- and part-time staff. November and December – where business was almost “non-existent” in the past – are now their busiest months with Christmas shoppers, while custom from the farming community is also very important to them.

“We find that farmers are very attracted to Irish products and also like to support Irish products and Irish businesses, particularly family businesses,” says Cliona. “So we would find we would get a lot of support.”

But that’s not the only way the sisters have put their own stamp on Standún. In April, they took the step of opening a second shop in Oughterard, which they felt would have a similar customer base to Spiddal.

“Just to spread the wings,” smiles Laragh. “We had always discussed it and Cliona came back from honeymoon and the date she came back, she went on DAFT and that day we went to view somewhere… she had a bee in her bonnet!”

“I came back so motivated,” laughs Cliona, explaining that while the Oughterard outlet is smaller than Spiddal, it has allowed them to showcase “the best of everything” they offer. “I can’t explain how exciting it was for us,” she continues, explaining how they used to meet in the evenings after work during the project to fine tune their plans while pounding the prom in Salthill.

And it’s not the only big change for the Standúns, with Cliona and her husband David Hanley – who hails from a dairy farm in Ballingarry, Co Tipperary – expecting their first baby in January.

Suffice it to say, she feels very fortunate to have Laragh’s full support to allow her to take her maternity leave when the time comes.

“It would be so stressful if I was doing it and I was running the place by myself,” Cliona acknowledges, while Laragh is looking forward to the opportunity to get to grips with new areas of the business.

“But there are definitely things I’ll need advice on from Cliona,” she continues, “but she’ll be on the other side of the phone hopefully.”

Asked what they believe the key is to running a successful business as siblings, they agree that it all comes down to communication.

“Sometimes we would say: ‘I’m really not happy with x, y and z.’ And it’s really good to be able to say that,” explains Cliona, adding that having that frankness between them means that issues don’t get the chance to “fester”.

“What we’re probably a little bit weak on is having structured meetings and sitting down and discussing things at length,” she continues, “but then, at the same time, we would be in constant communication about what’s going on and I think that’s really important.”

And as they look forward to the future of Standún, they feel that one thing is for sure.

“We couldn’t do it without each other,” smiles Cliona.

For further information, visit www.standun.com

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