Mar 19, 2011

Ginty Sisters Honor Heritage With Popular Gift ShopBy Liz AltermanMorris.Patch.com

Ginty’s Irish Gifts was born after Kathleen Ginty Hyland, of Morris Township, returned from her first trip to Ireland 30 years ago. She jokingly mentioned to her husband that she’d like to own a gift shop that specialized in all the treasured items she’d grown up with.

“Our mother was born in Ireland and our father’s parents were born there so products like wool and crystals were very much a part of our lives growing up,” Hyland said. “My sister (Mary Ginty Parker) and I started talking about it and we did it and we’ve been in business for twenty-nine years.

“We started out right on DeHart Street. We shared a shop with Caswell-Massey and within a year we’d taken over the whole store. One thing led to another and we were very successful from the moment we opened the door. It’s been fun just being around people.”

No one is a stranger at Ginty’s Irish Gifts. A trip to the shop is a bit like visiting charming relatives and bit like attending a comedy show. The clever banter between the sisters keeps the customers not only laughing but coming back.

The affable duo get their love of business and community from their father, John “Jack” Ginty, for whom a park and large sports complex on Woodland Avenue, the John W. Ginty Memorial Field, is named. “It’s right near where we grew up,” said Hyland. “Mary lives right down the street in the house our father built in the 1940s.”

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