Francis and John McGuire, proprietors of McGuire’s Gala Service Station in Rooskey. Pic: Kieran Croghan
McGuire’s of Rooskey has recently added an off-licence to the expansive list of services on offer at the popular business.
The Gala Service Station, which is open until late every day of the week, now stocks a range of wines, beers, and spirits at the new off-licence, which is located towards the back of the store. This development is just the latest addition to the growing list of services offered by McGuire’s since their re-opening just a couple of years ago.
The business was originally developed by the late Frank McGuire, who acquired the property back in 1979 from Tom McNally (RIP). It was a staple of the village for decades, until the opening of the Rooskey-Dromod bypass in 2007, which had a significant negative impact on several local businesses, and led to the decision in 2011 to close the shop.
It was always Frank McGuire’s hope and ambition that the family business would be reopened; a dream that was finally realised – poignantly, just over a year after his death – when his grown-up children unveiled a state-of-the-art, new-look McGuires at the start of 2022. This was the culmination of several months of hard work by the McGuire siblings, with Frank’s sons Francis and John having taken over the mantle of running the business day-to-day in the years since.
In that short time, the premises has gone from strength to strength, receiving a ‘Small Forecourt Retailer of the Year’ award in 2022, and evolving to boast an incredible range of services, including a hot and cold deli, freshly-baked goods, an outdoor and indoor seating area, an ice cream machine/toppings counter, a washing machine service, a car wash, and a coffee station with both hot and iced drinks available. This is in addition to the general filling station services offered by McGuires – fuel pumps, a range of everyday products, and items like coal, kerosene, gas, briquettes, etc (there is also a delivery service for same).
Located on Dromod Road, the premises is wheelchair accessible and benefits from superb on-site parking facilities – including for lorries.
Speaking to the Roscommon People this week, John McGuire expressed that they were very encouraged to see the positive response the new off-licence has been getting since it was introduced just a few weeks ago.
“People have been making good use of it so far, so that’s great to see”, he said. “Especially when you get the good weather, you notice more people coming in”.
Indeed the sunnier days are a boon for the business across the board, with Francis McGuire adding, “The ice creams are very popular too, especially at this time of year!
“We’ve become a place kids want to go, a place they ask their parents to go to”, he told the Roscommon People, adding that the recent introduction of an updated coffee station, complete with iced coffee options, has seen lots of success over the hotter summer days.
The brothers highlighted the outdoor and indoor seating areas at the premises, which not only offer great convenience for patrons, but also help the store function as a casual venue for the community to meet up and chat in. “After school in the evenings you get all the kids (in), and then you have stuff like the Men’s Shed members coming down to have their coffees. So it’s well used”.
The McGuire name extends to the village post office, where the siblings’ mother Elizabeth works, and which was relocated to the filling station shortly after the reopening in 2022. John explained that this too has been a boost for the business.
“It’s a busy service, lots of people use it”, he commented. “It’s handy for people – they can do their (post office) business and then grab their litre of milk or loaf of bread on the way out”.
Despite all that’s on offer already, this great family business has more ambitions to realise, with Francis telling the People this week: “Our next mission is expanding the deli. We’re going to knock through the (current deli) wall and expand it out”, he said, explaining that although a wide range of deli food is already on offer, “we want to start moving into offering fresh, pre-cooked dinners for people”.
Expanding the store’s kitchen facilities will also allow the premise to streamline their bakery service, with Francis telling the People, “I do all the baking in-store” to create the store’s line of fresh breads, cakes, tarts, etc – which are very popular within the local community.
Make sure to call to McGuire’s in Rooskey, a friendly state-of-the-art one-stop shop at the heart of the community!
