“The Local Enterprise Office helped make our plans possible, they supported us so much along the way.”

Antiques Ireland, the 2025 winner of the Waterford Digital Award, was first established in Kilmacthomas, County Waterford in 1949 by the late Patrick Keighery as RJK Antiques. Rody Keighery, his son, took over the business in the 1980s and created this renowned antiques shop and auction room with his wife Anne.

The family run business now comprises of Rody, Anne and Thomas Keighery and 6 key staff members. It holds over 10 auctions per year with an average of over 600 lots being sold per auction. These include themed auctions such as garden/outdoor, clocks, crystal and art. 

The business ships internationally to all continents with live online bidding available worldwide and holds regular ‘online only’ timed auctions which prove very popular. This is all possible as it is part of the Easy live Auction System which is the largest hosted group of auction houses in the world. 

The success in the digital awards was due in the main to Rody and Anne’s son, Thomas, who when joining the business added digital platforms to the promotion and execution of browsing and buying the Antiques Ireland collections. This digital marketing has helped bring the auction house to a worldwide audience. They use social media to bring these to life by educating the public on the beauty and uniqueness of antiques.

Thomas explained the influence the Local Enterprise Office in Waterford had on the business’s transformation, “The LEO has been a great help over the years with an initial grant in 2017 and top up grant in 2021, we totally redesigned our website and made the back end more stream lined and efficient, so we can now easily manage and track all that’s going on.

“The best Digital Tip I can share is to be authentic and don’t over think it. Most of our best performing content has been ones that are not thought out or perfect. Also try and be consistent, just post it and you never know what will happen.

“We went viral on a post of a mid-century sofa last month with over 1.5 million views. It definitely led to an increase in sales and interest in our clock auction with over 250 buyers on the day from all over the world. Online sales have grown by over 50% through the website since 2022 and a huge amount of sales is via the social media following. With nearly 100K online followers, 49K Instagram, 30K Tiktok and 20K Facebook.” 

Rody Keighery immediately recognised the benefits his son’s digital strategy. By approaching the Local Enterprise Office in Waterford for support they transformed the business. “The Local Enterprise Office helped make our plans possible, they supported us so much along the way.

“We believe we are innovators in the world of antiques and auction houses. We really push the boundaries with our content where we make a mix of information, fun, creativity and occasional comedy to bring the place to life and build a brand around what we sell.

“The content has driven foot traffic to our auction viewing, where people have built a real rapport with us. Most people assume we are in Dublin but we’re proud to fly the flag here in Waterford.”

Local Enterprise Office Waterford is here to help you start a business, expand an existing business or reach new markets. It provides advice, information and supports in starting up or growing your business as part of a network of 31 Local Enterprise Offices across Ireland. 

Contact your Local Enterprise Office Waterford for their latest training programmes, grants and events schedule on www.localenterprise.ie/Waterford or email info@leo.waterfordcouncil.ie for access to all their training support information.

To find out more about Antiques Ireland see, www.antiquesireland.ie