In 1998 Frances Daly Butler took a trip to Ireland to visit the birthplace of her mother and father. As she began to appreciate the people, countryside, and local workers, she felt she had established a deep, everlasting connection to her roots. Upon returning home, Frances began traveling to Irish festivals promoting the craftsmanship of the Irish people by offering top quality Irish-made items, such as hand-knitted sweaters, silk ties, and lovely jewelry. In October 2003, she founded Daly's Irish Imports to bring these increasingly rare Irish-made goods to the Cleveland area. We met with Frances recently, and listened as she described her store's offerings and her admiration for the woman who made it all possible;

Daly's Irish Imports offers a wide array of authentic, hand-made Irish goods. We carry all kinds of knitted products, including coats, jackets, scarves, ladies' outfits, hand-knitted sweaters, hand-loomed sweaters, socks, capes, hats, and children's sweaters and kilts. We have beautiful hand-stitched and hand-embroidered linens, in addition to silver and gold jewelry, candles, scents, perfumes, pictures, pewter, bronze, and hand-carved wooden items. We stock crystal from County Mayo, my mother's home county, and pottery from County Cork which is where my father was raised.

As Ireland has transformed from a very poor country to a prosperous one, labor has gotten extremely expensive. The result of this remarkable growth has been that younger people are not becoming involved in the traditional crafts, and many products for which Ireland has been famous are now being made elsewhere. We not only attend major trade shows in Ireland, but also spend four to five weeks traveling throughout the countryside visiting the remaining craftspeople in their homes and forging relationships to ensure that 95% of the products we offer are actually hand-made in Ireland. We buy directly from people who can't afford to participate in the big trade shows, or even have their items offered in local stores. Many of our customers tell us they're delighted to find we carry goods they've never seen, even in their travels to Ireland.

Daly's Irish Imports is a tribute to my mother, Molly Daly, who came to the United States at nineteen years of age when there was no work at home, bringing with her nothing but a suitcase. As the oldest girl in her family, my mother was a dedicated woman who always worked hard. Her family, both in this country and in Ireland, was the most important part of her life, and she rarely spent anything on herself. Her accomplishments were truly amazing, and her financial achievements made it possible for me to open Daly's Irish Imports. Due to my mother's dedication and determination, we don't stock anything that doesn't show the proper respect for all the hard work it took on her part to enable me to have this store.

Daly's Irish Imports is filled with an abundance of authentic, hard-to-find, hand-made Irish products. Stop by Daly's Irish Imports today, and don't forget to tell them The Advocate sent you!

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