About NCBI retail shops

Nanette Norris was born in 1900. She was friendly with Alice Armitage, NCBI’s founder. Nanette qualified as an anaesthetist in the Rotunda and married her gynaecologist husband, James Quin.

She supported Alice Armitage in the formation of NCBI. Nanette Quin was a born fundraiser. She wasn’t wealthy, but she was determined to make money for NCBI. With the help of the Nesbitt family in Dublin, friends of hers and owners of Arnotts stores, she found a small shop, which was free at the end of its lease, and took it over for three weeks. She cajoled her friends into parting with model gowns, furs and even jewellery and took a great deal of money for the charity. For years, she opened an end-of-lease shop for a few weeks before Christmas. She then moved to Drumcondra, where her ‘little shop’ was a concrete shed in the NCBI grounds. She continued her work for the charity until she died in 1989.

In 1996, NCBI opened its first charity shop, which was named Mrs Quin’s in honour of Nanette. NCBI’s shops traded under the name Mrs Quin’s until the summer of 2011, when a national re-brand back to NCBI began. There are currently over 60 NCBI shops around the country and the re-brand will continue in 2012, when all shops will be re-branded and re-fitted.

Shoes for Sight Campaign

Find out more about our Shoes for Sight Campaign, where you can donate shoes you no longer wear to our charity shops and receive a discount voucher for Aetrex shoes and a free foot scan.