Massive milestone for JR Locksmiths
By Hayden Moore
TALLAGHT-based security service, JR Locksmiths, is celebrating 10 years in business having stood the test of time during the recession.
A locksmiths at its core, the local business provides all of the security goods one could need, such as window locks, PVC door locks, child-proof locks, and window restrictors, but they have also continued to adapt to customers’ needs over their decade of service.
John Rodgers with staff from JR Locksmiths, David McGinn, Joanne Farrell, Paul Pettignen, Shay Murray, Mary Nolan and Jamie McGinn at their premises in Tallaght Village
Speaking to The Echo, owner John Rodgers told us of how there has been a shift to electronic security systems in recent years.
“There has been a shift towards electronic – someone might see a keyless entry video online or something like that and come to us looking to get the same thing,” he said.
“Whatever is currently trending online is usually where our business goes, because that’s what people want,” he added.
“I’d say over the last two years though, people have started going backwards towards the physical – being able to physically turn a key at night-time means a lot to them.”
Having originally started off working for a locksmith in the city centre, John was presented with the opportunity of starting his very own business when the circumstances of his previous employment changed.
At 24, Kilnamanagh native John, started JR Locksmiths, but it was in a different format than the way it is today – it was a mobile locksmith service out of his van.
Ten years on, JR Locksmiths now employs a core staff of eight – three office workers, four service engineers and an in-house locksmith in the store at Tallaght village, where they have been for five years.
On reaching a decade in business, he said: “It’s a massive milestone, especially when you consider what we’ve been through, coming through the recession and all. But yeah, it’s massive.”
The thriving local business now takes on seasonal staff as well as the odd Transition Year student, but John spoke of how trying times were during the financial crash.
“It was a testing time through what was the country’s biggest recession, and I was probably a bit naive starting a business at that time. We focused a lot on customer care and we respected what they had to say, so a lot of our clients kept coming back to us.
“Our kind of philosophy was that we focused on building a relationship with our customers.
“Then we started moving into different areas – whatever our customers were interested in we moved in that direction and expanded what we provided to meet their demands.”
With most work coming from commercial and residential properties, JR Locksmiths’ busiest facet of their business still is in the reactive work, repairing break-ins among other things.
John explained: “We’ve found that particularly during the recession that there were very high numbers of break-ins and vandalism.
“A lot of people do call us after they’ve recently had a break-in looking to increase security, but what we’re telling people is that you’re investing in security before something happens.”
JR Locksmiths can be found on Facebook, where they will be doing giveaways over the course of their 10th Anniversary.
