Published: Wednesday, 27th January, 2010 4:45pm

Sage & Stone closes doors in Navan, and relocates to Duleek

by John Donohoe

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Popular Navan home accessory store Sage & Stone is relocating its business to Duleek as its proprietors say the cost of doing business in Navan has become too much.

Sisters Kathryn Lynch and Ciara Burke are moving from their Kennedy Road unit at Navan Town Centre to the family homestead at Duleek, where they are planning to set up a shop and showroom and establish an online business.

Kathryn Lynch, one of the owners, says they are devastated to be leaving Navan, but excited about the new challenge of setting up in Duleek, on the Julianstown Road.

"We had taken all the measures we could to combat the difficulties, but it became too much," Kathryn explained. "So we had to move on to Plan B." New initiatives that Sage and Stone had taken included opening a coffee shop in the store.

"Overheads are far less at home - we're starting an on-farm industry," she said.

While she is excited about the new challenge, she is upset to be leaving Navan. "We were in business for 13 years, and our customers became our friends," Kathryn said. "We hope they will still come out to us."

They hope to be up and running in Duleek by the end of April.

Sisters Kathryn Lynch and Ciara Burke, daughters of former Fine Gael Meath County Councillor Shaun Lynch and his wife, Liz, opened Sage and Stone in 1997 and, in that time, it attracted a stream of loyal customers to its array of home accessories and quirky gift ideas, professional cookware and kitchen gizmos, as well as elegant tableware.