Commuter station shopkeepers continue to be hit hard by Covid as one reveals he made a measly €37.55 on Tuesday despite being open all day since 5:15am.
Gary Davis, who owns the Platform 9 ¾ shop in Maynooth train station, is making 1% or 2% of what he did before Covid-19.
He told Dublin Live: "Footfall is down hugely. Travelling restrictions are easing, the trains were at 25% and now they're at 50%, but the footfall is just not there at this station anyway.
"A lot of people are working from home and with the summer coming, they probably won't be going back until after the school starts."
Despite sales being low, he still comes in. "It gets me out of the house, something to do, try to pay some of my bills, that's really all I can do. Just try to keep my head above water."
Davis misses the pre-Covid hustle and bustle inside Maynooth station.
"I've gone from about twenty customers a train to twenty customers for the whole day.
"And even the people who are going through the station are afraid to take the mask off to have a sip of coffee on the train.
"Onwards and upwards, it's really all we can do."
According to the 2018 NTA Heavy Rail Census, 6,625 passengers passed through Maynooth station everyday, but Covid-19 has massively reduced this.
When the pandemic began, Davis closed the shop completely for six months and all of his stock went out of date.
When he reopened again, he restocked the shop, which lasted three weeks before the country went into lockdown number two and he closed up again.
The Whistle Stop, located in Tara Street station has faced similar difficulties with shop worker Daniel saying business has gone down "between 90 and 95%"
He told Dublin Live: We've remained open through the whole thing, we haven't been shut. But all customers, offices, builders, everything, it's all completely cut back.
"We originally reduced staff numbers. Then (over the summer) as things opened up we brought the normal staff back on.
"Then when we went into the second lockdown, we managed to keep everyone on but at reduced hours."
Daniel has faced similar problems with the shop's stock going out of date.
"An awful lot of it is going out of date, we just can't keep up with it. We're ordering it in but there's hardly any business to get rid of it. We´re throwing it out, bringing it back in, then it's going again.
"We're seeing [commuters] come off the train but they don't stop here, they go straight off into work."
Daniel added: "From six until eight in the morning we get some business but then it's dead for the rest of the day.
"There's nothing really to be doing. All we're doing is walking around all day looking for stuff to do."
