If you’re looking for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift idea, are bored of giving your partner chocolates they don’t really want or just sick of getting really drunk alone at home on the couch, Lucy’s Lounge can offer a solution. The vintage emporium in Temple Bar is giving you the chance to be the ultimate partner with their Valentine’s competition.
The store was sadly forced into closing on a Tuesday and Wednesday recently, citing high levels of taxation on small, independent businesses in Ireland. The owner of the shop, Dee Macken, announced the new closure times in a Facebook post in January, declaring she was making a statement against “the unfair procedure that is squeezing and squeezing the life from independents meanwhile letting the big guys, like Apple, away with billions of revenue”. In her truly sassy and honest style, she declared that she intended to remain in the business for another 35 years.
Lucy’s Lounge has thankfully not succumbed to the pressures placed on them by the multinational corporations pushing them out of the market by proxy. Instead, they have begun to explore creative and innovative means of marketing that create an unforgettable experience for their customers. This competition and event just highlights the necessity for small creative independent businesses in Dublin. The competition seeks to bring the Dublin community together in a very personal manner that a large scale business would find impossible.
All you romantic people need to do is write a witty love poem, song or rap and send it to Lucy’s Lounge as a Facebook private message before February 10th to be in with the chance to nab yourself two €50 vouchers. Alternatively, the gorgeously decorated, infamous vintage store in Temple Bar is offering all lovers the chance to serenade their dearest instore publicly on February 11th. Imagine your Valentine’s surprise if you asked them to meet you in Lucy’s Lounge only to start reciting love poetry at them amidst the retro ball gowns and funky dress suits – it would definitely be a Valentine’s Day to remember.
The event is sure to be a light-hearted and humorous one, as all the employees at Lucy’s Lounge are always warm and friendly. The employees in Lucy’s Lounge are not regularly turned over, as in larger stores such as H&M, and some have even worked there for up to 35 years. Their customers are their friends and supporters. For the owner Macken, her store is her dream and her addiction. This shows through in the employees’ willingness to chat and to help customers purchase the perfect product.
The store’s décor, which could only be described as a wonderland of colour, fabric and glitter, will provide the perfect setting for budding romance. Fantastical, fashionable and incredibly local, where in Dublin could be better to announce your undying love or lust to your crush this February. You never know, you might nab someone’s heart as well as those vouchers.
All information about the competition and the event can be found on Lucy Lounge’s Facebook page.
