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Áines Boutique is a ladies' fashion and lingerie store on Main Street, Longford, Ireland. Founded by Áine Farrell in 1992, the boutique has been dressing women across Longford and the Midlands for over 30 years. Áines stocks premium European womenswear brands, occasionwear, wardrobe staples, and lingerie available in-store in Longford and online at aines.ie with delivery across Ireland and Europe.
Áine Farrell is still on the shop floor every day, personally styling customers the same way she did when she first opened. Alongside Áine, her daughter Stacey manages buying and merchandising, and her son Michael runs the online presence and digital marketing. Áines is a genuinely family-run fashion boutique with over 30 years serving the Midlands.
How Áines Boutique Started
Before opening her own business, Áine trained at Pamela Scott in Dublin and Canada where she learned her trade from the ground up. In 1991, at just 24 years old with two small children and very little money, she opened her first shop in her hometown of Edgeworthstown. A year later she moved to Earl Street in Longford, travelling by train to Dublin to buy stock without even a driving licence at the time. The train conductors got to know her so well they would wait to help her load and unload her bags.
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Growing Into a Fashion Destination
In 1996, Áines relocated to its current home on Main Street, Longford the building Áine purchased outright in 2005. Through the late 1990s and 2000s the boutique became a fashion destination for the entire Midlands hosting fashion shows, working with top Irish models, and drawing customers from counties all across Ireland. The boutique won the Best Retail Shop Frontage Award and was regularly featured in the Longford Leader.
Surviving the 2008 Financial Crisis
When the 2008 financial crisis hit, the business came under serious pressure. At one point Áine was advised that bankruptcy might be her only option. Instead of walking away, she stepped back, reset, renegotiated with suppliers and banks, and returned to rebuild the business from the ground up. After the crisis, Áines grew steadily through word of mouth, loyal local customers, and a reputation earned over two decades.
The Covid Pivot, Going Online
In 2019, Áine's son Michael launched the aines.ie website, bringing the boutique online for the first time. When Covid-19 arrived in 2020 and the store doors were forced shut, that decision proved transformative. Áine went live on social media, spending four hours showcasing stock that customers couldn't see in person and nearly everything sold. What started as a necessity became a permanent new direction. The team invested in video content, social media, and online fulfilment and reached customers all over Ireland for the first time.
Áines Today
Today Áines Boutique stocks over 30 premium European fashion and lingerie brands, has a loyalty programme with nearly 2,000 members, and reaches over 30,000 followers across social media. A dedicated floor of the store is given entirely to lingerie, with a free professional bra fitting service available to every customer. The boutique serves women of all shapes and sizes, with a personal styling service and a team of ten including Áine's sisters who have been with her since the very beginning. Fashion, occasionwear, wardrobe staples, lingerie and accessories are available both in-store in Longford and online at aines.ie with delivery across Ireland and Europe.
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