A very sizeable family-founded machinery business in the south east is set to celebrate its 60th anniversary over the coming days.
Kellys’ Claas dealership in Borris, Co. Carlow – widely known as Kellys of Borris – is set to open its doors to the public tomorrow, March 9, until Saturday, March 11, to mark the business milestone.
This will be a celebratory weekend, according to Maurice Kelly, with a number of special offers on parts and machinery set to run in honour of the anniversary.
“This will be a thank you to the customers who have supported us in business over the years. We have a very strong, loyal customer base.
We have excellent products to sell, but we also have great customers.
“We service our local area, which is about two thirds of Leinster, but we also sell machinery all over the country,” Kelly said.
A number of guest speakers will attend the open days at Kellys of Borris, including Ivan Yeats and the newly-appointed CEO of the association of Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI) Michael Moroney.
“We will have a big marquee up on the day, so customers and visitors can come in and talk to our suppliers.
“There will be a clearance sale of older stock at once-off prices. There will be great deals on finance and plenty of genuine bargains available.
“We will also hold a raffle for ‘special-edition’ machinery scale models, with the funds raised going to charity,” he said.
Kellys of Borris’ additional machinery compound
Kellys of Borris is a certified Claas Harvest Centre and carries the full range of Claas agricultural machinery.
It is also an agent for brands such as JCB, Horsch, Smyth, Simba, Joskin, RMH, Redrock, Overum, Dieci, Kato, Kawasaki, McHale, Major and more besides.
Custom Paint Job
In order to mark the celebration, the dealership’s workshops have given two new Claas tractors a custom paint job and added extras such as a chrome exhaust.
We just wanted to do something a little different; we called them Claas ‘black beauties’.
Kellys of Borris was established in 1957 by Terence Kelly. Since then the business has grown very significantly. The business also has operations in Kilkenny and Abbeyleix, Co. Laois.
The Co. Carlow base has recently opened its latest machinery compound, where the dealership’s impressive stock of machinery has been laid out.
But, in the future, the business also hopes to build a dedicated used machinery centre, Maurice Kelly said.
“We would like to build a used machinery centre to lay out all of our stock – to make it easier for people to see what’s here. Construction will hopefully begin in 2018,” he added.
