An award winning retailer has praised the county’s local gift card for its ease of use and commission free nature after enjoying a bumper 6 months of sales through the card.
Second generation family run business Moran’s Menswear opened its doors in 1970 and celebrates 55 years in business in 2025. The menswear retailer joined the Love Tipperary Gift Card when it launched in November 2024, with over €5,000 of gift cards spent in the store in 6 months.
The Love Tipperary Gift Card is backed by County Tipperary Chamber and Tipperary County Council, with 300 businesses accepting the card. Both physical and digital versions of the card are available.
Moran’s Menswear was founded in 1970, moving to its current shop in Thurles in 2020 before the first lockdown. In the past 5 years, the retailer has tripled the size of the store, added a private wedding room and won the Drapers award for Best Independent Menswear across Ireland and the UK.
Diarmuid Moran, owner of Moran’s Menswear, said the Love Tipperary Gift Card supports their ethos as a business:
“We’re proud supporters of the independent sector and the power of shop local. If a person shops with Amazon that money is leaving Ireland but if you buy local it stays local and gets reinvested in the economy through jobs and the support local businesses provide to community projects and clubs. The Love Tipperary Gift Card is all about encouraging people to shop local and providing support for local businesses, so we are very happy to be a part of it. I think it’s a great initiative for Tipperary.
“One of the main benefits of the Love Tipperary Gift Card is the fact that it’s commission free. For example, I had a One4All Gift Card in the store today for €100 and I gave €12 of that to One4All in commission. In comparison, accepting the Love Tipperary Gift Card is 100% commission free. Another major benefit is the ease of use. I can swipe the physical version while the digital version is added to the recipient’s digital wallet so they can ‘tap to pay’.
“We’ve accepted over €4,000 of Love Tipperary Gift Cards since the initiative launched in November 2024, and I think that is down to the ease of use for merchants accepting the card and recipients spending it. Moran’s Menswear is a destination store which caters to a broad market, from 15 years of age upwards, so when people come into the store to spend their Love Tipperary Gift Card they could be buying anything from branded items to wedding attire, shoes to accessories.
“It’s our aim to make every customer feel welcome, so when they are spending their Love Tipperary Gift Card at Moran’s, they’re receiving the best individualised service. One thing I’ve noted is that when customers have the Love Tipperary Gift Card to spend they tend to trade up and spend more on top of the Gift Card value.”
Diarmuid encourages local organisations to consider using the cards as rewards, and urges businesses who are not currently accepting the card to register:
“The Love Tipperary Gift Card is a positive initiative for Tipperary and is ideal for organisations to use as rewards because it is a tangible way they can show support for their community. I’d like to see the Love Tipperary Gift Card becoming even more embedded within the community, and more organisations using the cards for rewards, ringfencing reward spend into County Tipperary.
“For local businesses in County Tipperary, it’s very simple. If you’re not part of the Love Tipperary Gift Card then people are not going to visit your business to spend their cards with you. As a business, you have to keep reinventing and moving forwards, and that includes participating in positive community initiatives that benefit the community like the Love Tipperary Gift Card. €5,000 of additional spend in just over 6 months is a positive for any independent business.”
Michelle Aylward, Chief Executive at County Tipperary Chamber said:
“We introduced the Love Tipperary Gift Card as a means to provide tangible support for our business community, and give people and organisations an easy way to shop local. It’s fantastic to see the positive impact our gift card is having on our local businesses across a range of sectors. 300 local businesses now accept the card, but there’s still time for other businesses to register to accept the card and experience the benefits of zero commission, easy revenue through their tills.”
The Tipperary Gift Card is part of the multi award winning Town & City Gift Card concept active across Ireland.
Colin Munro is the managing director of Miconex and said: “There is a huge shift in organisations making the move to local rewards for their rewards and incentives. In our research, 89% of organisations in Ireland said supporting local businesses was important to their organisation. With 300 businesses accepting the card, the Love Tipperary Gift Card offers unbeatable local choice for employees, while the option of physical cards to hand over or digital cards to send to their email or phone makes support for local simple.”
The Love Tipperary Gift Card is available for consumers and organisations.
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