Tilly Curtin, (17), from Rhebogue, queued outside Penneys in Limerick city from “3am”.
“I’ve had no sleep. I came out of work at 9.30pm last night, and the first thing I thought of was Penneys. I went home and sat on my mother’s stairs for an hour and told her she wasn’t going to sleep until she gave me her (credit) card,” she said.
“She ended up giving it to me anyway because I had my sister jumping on the bed telling her we were having a peaceful protest, until I got a hold of her credit card, and I got it anyway in the end.”
Ms Curtin and a relative “took off straight” to Penneys, where they stood all night “starving and not being able to go to the toilet”.
Friends arrived “playing songs for a little while” to break the boredom, and “we danced around the place”.
In the end, it was “well worth it”.
Showing two large packed Penneys bags, she said: “I got tops, pants, underwear, pyjamas, you name it I got it — I think I picked up one of everything that was in my size.”
“I even came out with a bag of bedcovers too,” she said.
“I can’t wait to go home, get a shower, go to bed for an hour, put on fresh bedcovers, got to work, come home, shower again, and put on my nice new pyjamas, and have a nice Chinese (dinner) to go with it all.”
“You can’t beat Penneys, the place was missed.”
Hundreds queued outside the store, along O’Connell Street and onto Honan’s Quay, throughout the morning.
Michelle Timoney and her daughter Abi (12) and a friend travelled over 40km from Ennis, Co Clare to get a spot in the queue.
“If I didn’t come I’d have had to listen to it for the rest of the summer, I’d say. So, it was easier to come and to get in the queue, rather than having to listen to them going on about it,” Ms Timoney explained.
“We got up about 7am. Only for I’ve nothing else to be doing, I honestly wouldn’t be here, it’s to keep them happy,” she continued.
When asked what was on her shopping list, Abi replied: “Everything”.
Having risen at dawn to get her spot in the queue, Annette Galvin, Kennedy Park, had reached the front entrance of the Limerick clothing Mecca around 9am.
“I need everything, socks, knickers, bras, the whole lot,” Galvin laughed.
Her friend, Caroline Keehan, Kennedy Park, joked: “She has to go in and get her husband boxer shorts”.
“I need socks, pyjamas, bras and underwear too,” Keehan laughed.
