When you walk into A&J Ormsby on the North Circular Road, you’re always greeted by a friendly face behind the counter.
You see a wide selection of magazines and newspapers among the sweets, crisps, biscuits and buns, and can glance at the fresh deli at the back of the shop.
And all the staff of the local staple love their jobs because they are treated to "all walks of life" - and "every day is different".
The newsagents is on the same street as Mountjoy Prison, who they deliver newspapers to, and is directly across the road from the Mater Hospital.
Paula Ormsby, who is co-owner of the shop, recalls one infamous incident when a one-legged man amaned to get out of the hospital and make it across the road to settle his cigarette cravings.
She told Dublin Live: “We deal with every walk of life, we’re beside the Mater and Mountjoy, from consultants, to prison officers, to guards, to nurses, to sick people themselves, everybody.
“We've been here as a family for the last 36 years, since 1986. Everyday is very different, especially with Covid easing, there were no visits to the prison or hospital and with no outpatients, it was quiet.
“A lot of our customers are from the hospital, we get smokers over here because they're not allowed to sell cigarettes in the hospital.
“As a result, they come over here with beeper machines and there's was a one legged man who managed to get across the road of busy traffic.
“We’ve had phone calls over the years looking for patients, if it’s a nice sunny day they’d sit outside with an ice cream and the nurses would have to come over to take them back."
Paula also remembers serving one family who were in particular distress, going the extra mile to help settle their nerves while their mam was facing a tough operation.
“One time a family came in and we were all cleaned up ready to go home, their mother was getting a double lung transplant and she was in theatre," Paula added.
“They were starving, they didn’t tell me the story but I was able to judge by how they looked. I made them sandwiches and tea.
"I’ve been here for so long that you can kind of judge people," she added.
“They could’ve gone to McDonald’s but because of the nature of what was happening, they just wanted to be close.”
Paul claims that she is old-school, she's always preferred stocking as much local produce and homemade food as she can.
She said: “We’ve lovely customers, we’re a bit old style.
"We make a lot of our stuff ourselves, we make our own egg mayonnaise, we get local produce like rolls, we don’t import them.
“We’re old fashioned and my motto is, if I wouldn’t eat it, I wouldn’t serve it. It’s a quality thing.”
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