In 1899, the first known use of the word ‘automobile’ appeared in an editorial in The New York Times. It was also the year the 2nd Boer War began in South Africa.
In Ireland, 1899 signalled the first-ever stage performance by the Irish Literary Theatre, founded by W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory and others, the forerunner of the Abbey Theatre.
In Kerry, the year was also a particularly noteworthy one for John Ross, a newly arrived Scotsman and horologist, who founded his watchmaking and jewellery business. It has endured good times and bad, and his name remains proudly over the door 126 years later.
Even more historic is the fact it has remained in the same family — making it one of the oldest family-owned and run businesses in Kerry — if not further afield.
With his beautiful pocket watch and typewriter beside them at the shop counter, it’s almost as if John Ross is still keeping time on his great-granddaughters and first cousins, Heather O’Sullivan and Sandrene Brassil, who are keeping the retail flame alive today in the heart of Tralee.
With its beautiful, original Edwardian shopfront and fittings still in-situ, the business duo joke that the shop is a “time capsule”, and while hugely proud, they know it’s vital to move with the times too. The cousins have accomplished this by building an impressive presence across multiple social media platforms to make the landmark shop a retail destination online.
“My first memory of the business is being inside in the workshop in my pram,” Heather says, laughing. “My grandfather Alexander was leaning over the bench, working under the lamp, and I can still see the back of his head and shoulders, his cardigan. I shouted out to him ‘moogy’, my word for music, and whilst he was working on the item, his hand went up to the radio.
“He would have trained me at the bench as a child. I started working at 11 under my grandfather at the engraving machine, taking out the type [lettering],” she says, taking a break from fitting a watch battery to chat.
“It’s like a rock. It’s like the certainty in my life,” Heather says of the shop building in Castle Street, which is approaching its 200th birthday, having been built in 1835.
“It has more permanence to me than any home I’ve ever lived in. I know it’s a building, but it’s the centre of the family, and any member of the family can come here.”
Honouring heritage
Heather O’Sullivan prepares to photograph jewellery for social media. \ Domnick Walsh
At 21, armed with his tools and a motorbike, John Ross travelled around Ireland and settled in Kerry because it reminded him of his native Aberdeenshire. “He started his watchmaking business in a premises in Listowel that he shared with two other start-ups before he went out on his own,” she explains.
In addition to jewellery and watches, he sold musical instruments and gramophones. In fact, he sold the first-ever gramophone to come to Co Kerry. Mr Ross later purchased their current premises in Tralee in 1918.
Always “astute” and an “innovator”, John Ross wasn’t afraid to adopt new technology, Heather tells Irish County Living, and the jeweller is believed to be the first in Tralee to get electricity in 1929. Her grandfather was born in this building and was raised there for several years before a move to Seaview House.
During difficult times, John Ross and his wife did what they had to to survive, even selling apples, flowers and vegetables from their garden during the 1930s.
Seeing another war in Europe on the horizon, he bought watch parts and gold from Switzerland before the start of WWII, and that “enabled him to sustain the business through that period of upheaval”.
“It’s amazing John Ross’s legacy,” observes Heather, who has been involved in jointly running the jewellers with Sandrene for the last 20 years. Her own mother, Anne, worked there for 60 years before she retired.
Heather spent 15 years living in the UK and working as an IT professional after studying linguistics and computation in Manchester in the late 1980s.
She returned home and went back into the family business after she got married to Brian, also a Tralee native, who is involved in major construction projects all over the world. They have two children John and Alexandra.
John Ross, founder of John Ross Jewellers back in 1899.
Heather revels in the fact she moved from IT sales to this “lovely sales environment” which is part of all the important milestones in people’s lives, from a new baby to a 21st, a wedding or a big birthday.
“It’s just a lovely, lovely thing [to be involved in the big celebrations], and you’ll get people walking into the shop who emigrated in the 1950s, and they’ll say, ‘it’s still here’. So much has changed, and it’s still here. It’s just that lovely continuity.”
Running the business with Sandrene, who she is exceptionally close to and highly qualified in her own right, is a bonus.
“She just loves the business like myself,” says Heather, who believes the two complement each other very well. “Sandrene wouldn’t be into IT [or social media] the way I would be, but she’s really into people.”
“She is a very visual creative-type of person and I’m a computer scientist, so we have different ways of looking at thing. I think it’s really important for the business.”
Speaking just prior to travelling to a trade show in Italy, Heather jokes that she will be like a “ferret going around to find something fresh and new”.
For her, a piece of jewellery, whatever the price, should be beautiful and will be a lasting memory of an occasion or celebration.
“For example, a lady may buy a ring for her 50th birthday, and every time that is admired, she is reminded of that lovely time in her life. I really think the older I get, the more I appreciate how we must celebrate every single occasion in our lives.”
Beautiful heirlooms
Staff at John Ross Jewellers in Tralee, from left to right, Laura Devane , Cora Coffey, Heather O'Sullivan , Janna Litchfeild and Sandrene Brassil. \ Domnick Walsh
In addition, a piece of jewellery is potentially an heirloom.
“You buy anything for a person, and it [generally] won’t be kept, but jewellery is kept. If you have something belonging to your grandmother; it’s probably going to be a piece of jewellery.
“It’s the one thing that people keep and that anybody can wear. Jewellery is very democratic,” adds Heather, “and it elevates your clothing and overall style.”
With Valentine’s Day being celebrated this weekend, she predicts it will be a big one this year, given that it falls on a Friday, so she jokes menfolk better “produce something.”
However, Heather admits it’s mostly focused on younger people these days and “the fun side” of jewellery with heart trinkets, funky little pieces and engravings proving popular.
“Certain people do lean into the romantic vibes, and again, this year, we expect it will be a Valentine’s proposal year because it’s on a Friday,” she says, laughing.
“Generally, with engagement rings, people have between €2,000 to €4,000 to spend; that’s really the average. But if it’s €200, that’s fine, or €20,000, that’s fine. We don’t really mind,” says Heather, as they strive to give the same level of service whatever the spend.
The pair are focused on developing “long-term deep trust relationships” with their customers.
They want them to come back again and again and everything they do – from the look of the shop, good staff and a strong online presence on social media – plays its part.
“Buy what you can afford to buy,” Heather advises. “Your jewellery is brilliant value for money because you will get the time out of it. But at the end of the day, jewellery, I feel, should never be associated with that anxiety that comes with debt. There is no pleasure [in that].”
See johnrossjewellers.com
In 1899, the first known use of the word ‘automobile’ appeared in an editorial in The New York Times. It was also the year the 2nd Boer War began in South Africa.
In Ireland, 1899 signalled the first-ever stage performance by the Irish Literary Theatre, founded by W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory and others, the forerunner of the Abbey Theatre.
In Kerry, the year was also a particularly noteworthy one for John Ross, a newly arrived Scotsman and horologist, who founded his watchmaking and jewellery business. It has endured good times and bad, and his name remains proudly over the door 126 years later.
Even more historic is the fact it has remained in the same family — making it one of the oldest family-owned and run businesses in Kerry — if not further afield.
With his beautiful pocket watch and typewriter beside them at the shop counter, it’s almost as if John Ross is still keeping time on his great-granddaughters and first cousins, Heather O’Sullivan and Sandrene Brassil, who are keeping the retail flame alive today in the heart of Tralee.
With its beautiful, original Edwardian shopfront and fittings still in-situ, the business duo joke that the shop is a “time capsule”, and while hugely proud, they know it’s vital to move with the times too. The cousins have accomplished this by building an impressive presence across multiple social media platforms to make the landmark shop a retail destination online.
“My first memory of the business is being inside in the workshop in my pram,” Heather says, laughing. “My grandfather Alexander was leaning over the bench, working under the lamp, and I can still see the back of his head and shoulders, his cardigan. I shouted out to him ‘moogy’, my word for music, and whilst he was working on the item, his hand went up to the radio.
“He would have trained me at the bench as a child. I started working at 11 under my grandfather at the engraving machine, taking out the type [lettering],” she says, taking a break from fitting a watch battery to chat.
“It’s like a rock. It’s like the certainty in my life,” Heather says of the shop building in Castle Street, which is approaching its 200th birthday, having been built in 1835.
“It has more permanence to me than any home I’ve ever lived in. I know it’s a building, but it’s the centre of the family, and any member of the family can come here.”
Honouring heritage
Heather O’Sullivan prepares to photograph jewellery for social media. \ Domnick Walsh
At 21, armed with his tools and a motorbike, John Ross travelled around Ireland and settled in Kerry because it reminded him of his native Aberdeenshire. “He started his watchmaking business in a premises in Listowel that he shared with two other start-ups before he went out on his own,” she explains.
In addition to jewellery and watches, he sold musical instruments and gramophones. In fact, he sold the first-ever gramophone to come to Co Kerry. Mr Ross later purchased their current premises in Tralee in 1918.
Always “astute” and an “innovator”, John Ross wasn’t afraid to adopt new technology, Heather tells Irish County Living, and the jeweller is believed to be the first in Tralee to get electricity in 1929. Her grandfather was born in this building and was raised there for several years before a move to Seaview House.
During difficult times, John Ross and his wife did what they had to to survive, even selling apples, flowers and vegetables from their garden during the 1930s.
Seeing another war in Europe on the horizon, he bought watch parts and gold from Switzerland before the start of WWII, and that “enabled him to sustain the business through that period of upheaval”.
“It’s amazing John Ross’s legacy,” observes Heather, who has been involved in jointly running the jewellers with Sandrene for the last 20 years. Her own mother, Anne, worked there for 60 years before she retired.
Heather spent 15 years living in the UK and working as an IT professional after studying linguistics and computation in Manchester in the late 1980s.
She returned home and went back into the family business after she got married to Brian, also a Tralee native, who is involved in major construction projects all over the world. They have two children John and Alexandra.
John Ross, founder of John Ross Jewellers back in 1899.
Heather revels in the fact she moved from IT sales to this “lovely sales environment” which is part of all the important milestones in people’s lives, from a new baby to a 21st, a wedding or a big birthday.
“It’s just a lovely, lovely thing [to be involved in the big celebrations], and you’ll get people walking into the shop who emigrated in the 1950s, and they’ll say, ‘it’s still here’. So much has changed, and it’s still here. It’s just that lovely continuity.”
Running the business with Sandrene, who she is exceptionally close to and highly qualified in her own right, is a bonus.
“She just loves the business like myself,” says Heather, who believes the two complement each other very well. “Sandrene wouldn’t be into IT [or social media] the way I would be, but she’s really into people.”
“She is a very visual creative-type of person and I’m a computer scientist, so we have different ways of looking at thing. I think it’s really important for the business.”
Speaking just prior to travelling to a trade show in Italy, Heather jokes that she will be like a “ferret going around to find something fresh and new”.
For her, a piece of jewellery, whatever the price, should be beautiful and will be a lasting memory of an occasion or celebration.
“For example, a lady may buy a ring for her 50th birthday, and every time that is admired, she is reminded of that lovely time in her life. I really think the older I get, the more I appreciate how we must celebrate every single occasion in our lives.”
Beautiful heirlooms
Staff at John Ross Jewellers in Tralee, from left to right, Laura Devane , Cora Coffey, Heather O'Sullivan , Janna Litchfeild and Sandrene Brassil. \ Domnick Walsh
In addition, a piece of jewellery is potentially an heirloom.
“You buy anything for a person, and it [generally] won’t be kept, but jewellery is kept. If you have something belonging to your grandmother; it’s probably going to be a piece of jewellery.
“It’s the one thing that people keep and that anybody can wear. Jewellery is very democratic,” adds Heather, “and it elevates your clothing and overall style.”
With Valentine’s Day being celebrated this weekend, she predicts it will be a big one this year, given that it falls on a Friday, so she jokes menfolk better “produce something.”
However, Heather admits it’s mostly focused on younger people these days and “the fun side” of jewellery with heart trinkets, funky little pieces and engravings proving popular.
“Certain people do lean into the romantic vibes, and again, this year, we expect it will be a Valentine’s proposal year because it’s on a Friday,” she says, laughing.
“Generally, with engagement rings, people have between €2,000 to €4,000 to spend; that’s really the average. But if it’s €200, that’s fine, or €20,000, that’s fine. We don’t really mind,” says Heather, as they strive to give the same level of service whatever the spend.
The pair are focused on developing “long-term deep trust relationships” with their customers.
They want them to come back again and again and everything they do – from the look of the shop, good staff and a strong online presence on social media – plays its part.
“Buy what you can afford to buy,” Heather advises. “Your jewellery is brilliant value for money because you will get the time out of it. But at the end of the day, jewellery, I feel, should never be associated with that anxiety that comes with debt. There is no pleasure [in that].”
See johnrossjewellers.com
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