"You’ve become more friends than customers over the years" - Chichester district greengrocer thanks customers after serving public for over three decades

Tributes were paid to Dan O’Leary, also known as Dan Dan the Veggie Man, who recently retired from his 33 years of greengrocery in the Chichester District.

Dan spoke of how it all started for him back in 1988.

He said: “I was working in the building trade and it all went downhill a bit in those days, 1988 after the ‘87 crash, with not much building work so i was looking for a different job. This job came up. Somebody started the round originally, just a small round. He was selling it and I bought it in 1988 and then I started going round with him and he showed me all my customers and what he did so I just took it over from him.

"It was great fun, I used to buy from a local wholesaler who used to go up to London every day and I would go up every morning and buy the stock from him. A lot of local growers would also take a lot of stuff to him as well so everything was in one place. There was a load of local produce as well as what he could get from London as well then I would go there and purchase it, and then load it on my van, get there for five in the morning. Purchase what I want then load it on my van and the secret of my trade is to be regular for your regulars. I used to have a set round and people knew exactly what time and what day I was going to be on their doorstep. So if they went out at ten o’clock, they would know at 12 o’clock that I would be knocking on their door at five past 12.

"Covid was a bit of a time, when the first lockdown started, I was absolutely swamped with people. I would pull up in the street where I would usually serve two or three people, there would half a dozen to eight people come out who I’d never seen before because everyone was panic buying, So what I decided to do was stop the round, because I refused to serve those people because they hadn’t been my customers for all those years and they would’ve bought everything and not had anything left for my regular customers at the end of the day. So I stopped serving those people and I said to my customers, ‘email me, text me or call me over the weekend and make a list of what you want so I could give to them in a box.’ That way I didn’t have the hassle of all the people coming to grab all my stuff. This meant that I was able to keep my regulars going and they really appreciated that because they couldn’t get it anywhere else.

“You had to be there that was the only thing, even if you were half dead you had to be there because if you didn’t become a regular then people wouldn’t use you.”

Dan decided to retire after over three decades of trade in the business, citing the ongoing veg shortage as one reason why he decided to end his tenure as a greengrocer.

He said: “I decided to retire after the whole current situation with vegetables. I was going to retire in May anyway and that just pushed me along a bit. All my kids have left home, my mortgage is paid off and there is no need to work 15 hours a day anymore.

"Now that I’ve retired I’m going to do odd jobs for people, customers, who have now become my friends, some of them I’ve know for well over 30 years. I’m going to do odd jobs like putting up shelves, blinds, decorating and a bit of gardening that kind of thing.

"The people were good enough to keep me going for over 30 years and I thought at the time that I was going to keep them going best I can.”

Speaking on the well-wishers who congratulated him on his retirement, Dan said: "I just want to thank you for all your trade over the years. You’ve become more friends than customers over the years. I just wanted to thank them for all their support over the years. I always found found people interesting and everyone has their own story to tell and it was great getting to know all my customers.”