Charlie Rankin, owner of vintage shop Betty Bojangles on Thomas Street, When Mr Rankin was 14, he used to visit his granny in Dublin 8 to do her grocery shopping, after which she’d give him £1 for his troubles.
One day, he went into town to spend his wages, which is how he came across Liberty Belle, a vintage shop on Fownes Street, which was run by the late and great Betty Wall.
It led to a Saturday job, which is how Rankin cut his teeth in the business, and how he came up with the name for his first shop, which is both an ode to Betty and his favourite song, Mr Bojangles.
“I got a job when I was 14 in a shop called the Liberty Belle down on Felton Street, a Saturday job,” he told the Irish Independent.
“It was run by a woman called Betty Wall. She was a stylist, and she had a vintage shop and that’s how I started. And then I just got into it.
“The name Betty is in honour of Betty Wall and then Bojangles is from one of my favourite songs Mr Bojangles. I put the two names together then.
“She was a lovely woman, fantastic, hard but she was nice.”
Starting life as a stall in The Ferocious Mingle Marcade in 2016, Rankin opened a bricks-and-mortar shop in Smithfield the following year before moving to Thomas Street, where a recent renovation has breathed new life into the shop, while the Tiffany-blue shopfront has brought a welcome pop of colour to the street.
Spending his days dealing with regular customers mostly, Rankin also supplies costumes for TV, film and theatre. Emmy-winning costume designer Joan Bergin paid him a visit to source the jewellery worn by the evil queen in Disney’s Disenchanted.
“I started off originally in the Mingle Marcade, which is just up the road from the shop about eight years ago. It was a market with vintage and crafty bits. That closed down and then we moved to Smithfield, then it closed, and I moved back to Thomas Street,” Charlie added.
“I would have stuff that would be similar to what they wear in Bridgerton. A lot of them, I’ve a lot of 20s, The Great Gatsby, Downton Abbey type stuff. It’s a glamorous shop.
“I do a mixture of vintage, designer, modern and new stuff. The new stuff that I buy, I wouldn’t be buying 25 of the one dress.
“I like to have one-of-a-kind pieces. I wouldn’t have racks and racks of the same colour dress because if you buy something here for a wedding or a party, the chances are very slim that someone will rock up in the same thing that you’re wearing.
“I would sell a lot for weddings and to people that like to dress nicely a lot of my customers would be the older lady. They just want to look nice and different.
“They want to be able to go to parties or go to weddings or whatever occasion that they are going to and not have somebody else to rock up in the same dress.
“We have customers that would be regular. I had two customers yesterday who are going to a wedding next May.
“They’re looking for a certain type of dress that’s beaded and glamourous. Now I’ll be looking out for them, so when I get anything that I think they’ll like I’ll give them a ring.”
