In February 1924, William Glynn having served his apprenticeship to the hardware and grocery business and having gained further valuable experience in Retail stores in Glenamaddy and Loughrea opened his own general business in Kilkerrin, a few miles from his native Glenamaddy, Co. Galway. He married local girl, Ellen Divilly, Scregg, Kilkerrin in 1930, and they had seven children. William died prematurely in August 1945 at the age of 54 years and Ellen was left with a young family to rear and a business to run. The business progressed rapidly in the aftermath of World War Two and 18 months later - February 1947, the year of the big snow - Ellen Glynn took over her Uncle's business Noones of Milltown, consisting of a family grocers, hardware, tea and wine importers.

 

Michael Noone (Uncle of Ellen Glynn) emigrated to the USA in the early 1900's. He returned from the states in 1913, and purchased McDonnells of Milltown, the business where he served his apprenticeship and worked as a shop assistant for a number of years prior to emigrating. Thus the Glynn Family connection with the Milltown Business goes back to September 1913, (almost 100 years) which enables it to claim to be one of the longest established family businesses in the West of Ireland.

In 1955, Frank Glynn, Son of William and Ellen Glynn - then aged 20 years - took over the management of the Milltown business. Educated at Kilkerrin National School, St. Jarlath's College. Tuam and U.C.G., he qualified with a B. Comm in 1958 and later that year married his wife Mary (nee Coyne) a native of Maam, Co. Galway. They ran a very successful grocery, drapery, bar, hardware and agricultural business from Milltown, assisted by their nine children and a friendly and loyal staff.

In June 1968, Glynns expanded again and opened their THIRD store at Ballygaddy Road, Tuam under the management of Anthony O' Loughlin (Tony). In 1979, Glynns Hardware Milltown built a complete new retail hardware store, yard and warehouse opposite the old shop. Today, Glynns are one of the leading suppliers of hardware, building materials, plumbing and agricultural products in Connaught, still maintaining that personal touch for which the family have been renowned for four generations and almost 100 years.

Frank & Mary Glynn have since retired and have handed over the reins to the next generation, Sons, Liam and Padraic. Another son, Ronan, now manages their long established undertaking Business.

Glynns have always been to the forefront of Innovation and change within the industry. Frank Glynn was one of the four founding Directors of Associated Hardware Ltd (AHL, the Hardware Group) which was set up on 27th July 1972. It was during the first chairmanship of Frank Glynn, that AHL's first premises was acquired at Ninth Lock Road, Clondalkin. AHL - now re-branded Homevalue Hardware is the largest hardware group in Ireland today, retailing from 60 stores "Nationwide and close to Home". The Homevalue Hardware brand is now well established thanks to the foresight of Founding Fathers, most of whom have now retired or passed to their eternal reward and the loyal staff of AHL over all the years. There is strength in numbers and this enables Glynns as part of a large group to bring you the Customer very competitve prices across a wide range of products. Carrying on the family tradition, Padraic Glynn was chairman of Associated Hardware Ltd from 2006 to 2008.

In 2006, Recognising the emphasis on Global Warming and importance of Renewable Energy and Insulation for the future,  Liam and Padraic Glynn set about designing Ireland's First Retail Energy Centre. In 2007, Tom Noonan joined the company as Business Development Manager  and the new Energy Centre was offically opened in Claremorris, Co. Mayo in March 2008 by celebrity architect, Duncan Stewart of R.T.E., "About the House" Fame. The Claremorris store encompasses a 4,000 ft2 Heating, Plumbing and Energy Centre. In addition Glynns took the opportunity to build on a 4,000 ft2 showroom for Stoves, Ranges, Bathrooms, Doors and Flooring materials. The new state of the art Showroom displaying a huge range of Insulation and Renewable Energy products, coupled with a knowledgable and experienced staff makes Glynn's Claremorris a centre of excellence in the Renewable Energy field and complements the wide range of Building material products on offer at their Milltown and Tuam Homevalue stores. Glynns Homevalue put significant effort in order to keep the level of ecological awareness. We are proud owners of Repak Certificate of Compliance in 2021 for the recovery of packaging and packaging waste.

The company also operate a Warehousing  and Distribution company. In November 2008, the company was awarded International Haulier of the Year 2008/2009, by Fleet Magazine. Glynns International Transport is the preferred distributor for a lot of multinational companies, based in the West of Ireland who distribute their products to the European market on a regular or weekly basis.

All Glynns Homevalue stores provide convenient, free car parking for their customers.

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