Most depressing Dunnes in Ireland?

jill_valentine · 24-04-2012 11:11pm

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

upstairs in the ilac creeps me out cause its closed and dark

When that centre is closed, let me tell you, the whole place is pure Dawn of the Dead.

Somehow the chapel makes it even creepier.

kieranfitz · 24-04-2012 11:21pm

Dungarvan, Co. Waterford.

IsThisIt??? wrote: »

Most depressing Dunnes in Ireland?

The one I work in!

Snap

Deleted User wrote: »

Working there was hell. You were treated like crap and managers would take any opportunity to berate you. Now the junior/trainee managers were fine, it was the ones who ran the departments and overall store who were the issue.

I worked from 2 pm December 23rd to well after 2am December 24th and was supposed to be back in at 8am. The manager who was with us told me that I was entitled to a certain length of time between shifts and not to come in at 8am. Instead I was to start at 12. I got in at 11 thinking that i was doing them a fabor but was instantly sent to the head manager who spent 5minutes screaming at me for not being there at 8.

Thinking back I can't name one girl I worked with who wasn't reduced to tears at least once and I know one of the trainee managers had a break down over the way she was treated. She told me that from the start of the day till the end it was nothing but constant abuse and that no matter how good the job was done fault would be found.

A few friends have worked in Tesco and they really can't say a bad word about the place. The managers treat them with respect and they are allowed to be themselves to a degree.

On my second day in Dunnes, I was given a warning due to my piercings and hair cut. When I was hired I had my mohawk and piercings on display in the interview and not a single word was said about them to me. I wore the Mohawk down in work and on the first day all was good, wasn't till the second day that it was an issue, a manager said I looked like a good for nothing punk. In Tesco my friend has wore his piercings and hair bleached a dozen colours over the years and not once has a manager said anything about it.

So it's not just mine then, nearly 7 years (could have done less for manslaughter). No natural light on the grocery side and very little in drapery. The store manager actually discourages people from coming in, I've had customers call me to see if he was working just so they could avoid him, so imagine what its like for staff. Personnel managers are without fail incompetent, even for their chosen profession. I myself finish every night, well technically morning, worried about the bolliking I'm going to walk into the next day owing the things I didn't get done because we don't have the time and/or people to get the work done.

jayteecork · 24-04-2012 11:23pm

Used be Ballyvolane in Cork but that has improved.

mikemac1 · 24-04-2012 11:25pm

Ah few will know it but Dunnes in Nenagh
Everyone said it was the smallest Dunnes in Ireland, I don't know if that's true or not

For some bizarre reason the food section was downstairs and the clothes was on the ground floor

There was no lift or escalater, you'd met people struggling up the steep stairs with a load of shopping
What fool designed the store that way

Over a decade ago the food section closed and the entire shop shut down a few years later leaving a great dirty vacant premises on the main street of the town

Nenagh is dying and depressing and the busiest shops are circled outside it
I don't like this planning at all

ordinary_girl · 25-04-2012 12:23am

100% the Dunnes in Crumlin Shopping Centre. It's rare for me to walk into a shop and suddenly feel depressed. The several different Dunnes' in Crumlin aren't great for a start, but even all the vacant shops around it. So grim.

The upstairs of the Dunnes in the Ilac creeps me out, always dark with the escalators closed. It looks like the shop is only half alive or something.

Richard Hillman · 25-04-2012 12:49am

Dunnes in Dun Laoghaire is pretty dire. The place is always empty and is in a ghost town. The outside is the exact same as it was as when i was a kid.

KeithM89_old · 25-04-2012 12:52am

One of the 3 here in Dundalk is awful, put some wire fences up at it could pass for a prison.

http://g.co/maps/6w8mq

jill_valentine · 25-04-2012 1:03am

KeithM89 wrote: »

One of the 3 here in Dundalk is awful, put some wire fences up at it could pass for a prison.

http://g.co/maps/6w8mq

Jesus, it looks like The Maze.

KeithM89_old · 25-04-2012 1:06am

jill_valentine wrote: »

It seriously looks like The Maze or something, yeah.

Even worse inside. Hell hole.

efb · 25-04-2012 1:08am

Are there nice Dunnesezzez anywhere?

saa · 25-04-2012 1:23am

I get nostalgic over the grotty beige and manky green look, with those weird recycled plastic tiles they have.
It's like the way the Ilac centre used to be with the big green clover.
But I can see how that would be depressing, I used to like Dunnes when I bought white bread, biscuits, pasta, meat and cheap crisps (good ol St.Bernard to the rescue) but now I don't its tedious shopping there because all the food is more expensive or aimed to suit the pallet of a cake loving mammy, not like the other places are better.

Corruptedmorals · 25-04-2012 1:32am

efb wrote: »

Are there nice Dunnesezzez anywhere?

The deliberately snazzy flagships are- Henry street, cornelscourt and liffey valley. Newer doesn't mean better though, dunnes maynooth is only 5 years old and looks far older, same grimness that much older ones have.

How so Joe · 25-04-2012 1:35am

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

The deliberately snazzy flagships are- Henry street, cornelscourt and liffey valley. Newer doesn't mean better though, dunnes maynooth is only 5 years old and looks far older, same grimness that much older ones have.

It's 6! And that's not entirely Dunnes' fault. Whoever designed the centre (and the apartments above it) made some huge cockups. There's forever bits of the ceiling falling down, both in Dunnes and the rest of Manor Mills. :rolleyes:

Although, considering Dunnes is the flagship in the centre, it's entirely possible they had a hand in designing the centre. Hrmmm...

admiralofthefleet · 25-04-2012 1:44am

the one in bridgewater in arklow is nice, but i dont shop in dunnes. i wouldnt support that margeret heffernan geebag

admiralofthefleet · 25-04-2012 1:53am

jill_valentine wrote: »

When that centre is closed, let me tell you, the whole place is pure Dawn of the Dead.

Somehow the chapel makes it even creepier.

ive been in loads of times when its closed, especially before it was done up when i worked in roches. eerie place altogether

paddyandy · 25-04-2012 11:54am

Our Thoroughfares are draped like Hoors in a red light district .

nicechick! · 25-04-2012 5:23pm

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

If you worked in one for a few weeks you wouldn't wonder why the staff aren't happy! They are notorious as an employer for a very good reason. They only care about having stock on the floor and selling it, seriously customer service is not stressed at any point. It's up to the individual. I for one worked in two Dunnes for nearly 4 years and was always able to be pleasant. But I'm well able to see why others aren't doing this. There's no motivation, the only thing that gets you through the day is the people you work with, everything else is fairly soul destroying. Customers treat staff and stock like crap also, which isn't going to raise staff morale. The drapery sections are treated just like Penneys is, except with way less staff to cope with it. All stores are understaffed big time.

Dunnes has a huge amount of staff who have been there 10+ years. Customer service actively declines the longer the staff are there.

Tragic really is, I don't doubt what your saying and would agree that the lack of customer service is primarily driven by poor people management.

Generally across the Retail Sector the norm is understaffed resulting in added responsibility, bigger workload but still can maintain a consistent standards & level of customer service again primarily driven by management though I fully acknowledge that most people are genuinely pleasant like yourself and willing would like to make any one's experience a good one. I understand that you may also get the poor negative experience from customers however most people are more open to a smile or acknowledgement and less likely to take there foul humor out on others. Its the nature of the job you may not always meet pleasant people.

I think this is why I'd avoid them though it may be little I rather spend my money elsewhere for this reason. Dunness in my view based purely on the level of customer service is driven from the top down that it is a company in my view that does recognize the value there employees who contribute daily to the delivery of there bottom line figures. I have tried to google Dunnes looking for information regarding there company mission, values and shockingly can't find anything! Again suggests they take little pride in there employees. I found one article from a couple of years ago and it states they had approx 18000 people working for them! I believe they have Hr Managers taking care of the HR within there stores but to me the primary driver in there role is more like ''policing'' I couldn't find any reference to people engagement, motivation, training or development more like a role for maintaining policy, procedure, compliance measures which of course are important!

You had a lucky escape

lazygal · 25-04-2012 5:25pm

Donaghmede is pretty woeful.

Bobsammy · 25-04-2012 5:39pm

How so Joe wrote: »

It's 6! And that's not entirely Dunnes' fault. Whoever designed the centre (and the apartments above it) made some huge cockups. There's forever bits of the ceiling falling down, both in Dunnes and the rest of Manor Mills. :rolleyes:

Although, considering Dunnes is the flagship in the centre, it's entirely possible they had a hand in designing the centre. Hrmmm...

It's 7 actually! Opened in 2005.

Palytoxin · 25-04-2012 5:44pm

Old one in Portlaoise, by a long way. The new one is actually nice enough though!

donkey balls · 25-04-2012 6:51pm

Jaysus the memories are coming back I used to deliver to all there stores around Ireland from memory these had to be some of the worst.
Wine st Sligo
Ballina
West port
Letterkenny(the old one)
Dundalk x2 not the newish one
North side shopping center
Cardiffsbridge Finglas(the wild west with the barriers and barbed wire it was like something out of mad max:eek:)
Tralee x 3
Arklow old one
Nenagh old one
Ballyvolane
Main street Cork
Dunnes westside Galway
Portlaise old one
Clomel x 3 although I heard they updated the one on the way out of the town
Ennis
There is probely more that I can't think off but have to say at least there deli counter was always better than tesco,And I am so glad that I no longer deliver to them some of the mgmt are absolute pr**ks, during the time that we had snow some years ago I had a manager give out to me that I was late.
I asked the knob were they late getting into work when they replied yes I answered back that they expected me to travel accross the other side of the country and be on time with the dodgy roads(black ice etc) with a 45 foot trailer behind me.

Dudess · 25-04-2012 6:55pm

If you remember the 80s they were all depressing back then but many have been given a facelift, except (in my experience):

- Talbot Street, Dublin city centre
- The "old" Dunnes in Bishopstown, Cork (ffs - close the monstrosity already, there's a lovely new one down the road!)

iguana · 25-04-2012 7:02pm

Dudess wrote: »

- The "old" Dunnes in Bishopstown, Cork (ffs - close the monstrosity already, there's a lovely new one down the road!)

They don't like closing old ones even when they have opened a new premises nearby as they are worried about competitors moving into the empty unit.

donkey balls · 25-04-2012 7:06pm

iguana wrote: »

They don't like closing old ones even when they have opened a new premises nearby as they are worried about competitors moving into the empty unit.

They closed the old ones in Longford and Roscrea and just left them there to rot spot on about letting the competition in.

Dudess · 25-04-2012 7:08pm

Ballyvolane Dunnes is grand now IMO - but pre 1990s, a pit of despair...

fatfacee · 25-04-2012 7:11pm

Crumlin shopping centre. It's like walking into a different time zone.

RH149 · 25-04-2012 7:16pm

Bray-....the food one near the Dart Station......horrendous!

alie · 25-04-2012 7:20pm

I remember all the scares in crumlin.in the 80,s , everyone evacuated on a daily basis.

Dangerous Man · 25-04-2012 7:26pm

I remember one of those scares in Crumlin too; people were running out of Dunnes without paying for their shopping.

Anyway, the Dunnes in Crumlin is just the pits. Seperate offie, seperate frozen section and seperate dry goods. Grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre, unprecedented.

Corruptedmorals · 25-04-2012 7:39pm

How so Joe wrote: »

It's 6! And that's not entirely Dunnes' fault. Whoever designed the centre (and the apartments above it) made some huge cockups. There's forever bits of the ceiling falling down, both in Dunnes and the rest of Manor Mills. :rolleyes:

Although, considering Dunnes is the flagship in the centre, it's entirely possible they had a hand in designing the centre. Hrmmm...

Seems like only yesterday getting leaflets in the door advertising its opening..!!

Nothing wrong about Manor Mills itself, (looks wise! As you say, there is design flaws) just that the Dunnes is designed exactly like a different one I worked in (I worked in both) and there is 20 years between their opening dates! But it's not an 'A store' so will never be seen as important to jazz up.

It's the anchor and backbone of every crappy shopping centre in Ireland. They must be miffed when they're one of many, like Liffey Valley.

retalivity · 25-04-2012 7:40pm

iguana wrote: »

They don't like closing old ones even when they have opened a new premises nearby as they are worried about competitors moving into the empty unit.

Add Letterkenny to that list too

LordSutch · 25-04-2012 7:53pm

I find the tone of their in-store announcements depressing, same in Woodies.

Cantona's Collars · 25-04-2012 7:55pm

The old one in Enniscorthy was a complete kip,held together by packing tape & dirt.I worked there for a short while years ago,most of the managers were actually pretty sound until one asshole who was only a year or so older than me arrived.He managed to fall out with every member of staff within a couple of weeks.I threatened to throw him down the stairs one night after a particular episode of cuntishness from him.
The next day I expected a P45 but the head man told me he'd gotten several complaints about yer man and he was being transferred,never seen so many happy staff in one place when they got the news.

The old store is closed now & of course Dunnes won't let anyone take it over and it remains empty and detracts from the town.:(

Dermighty · 25-04-2012 8:02pm

The Dunnes that used to be on the main street in Mallow. A long narrow cave, in which the drapery section was between the front door and the checkouts. It really was all the series of Lost in a shop :P

RayM wrote: »

Dunnes Stores in Portlaoise is particularly grim.

I've a feeling that green van is packed with bags of fertiliser and detonators :P

How so Joe · 26-04-2012 11:34am

Bobsammy wrote: »

It's 7 actually! Opened in 2005.

It's not 7 til October. or September. Can't remember.
It's still horrible. =(

Mr Benevolent · 26-04-2012 11:37am

All Dunnes seem dingy, cluttered and badly lit. Even Lidl and Aldi have more space.

Ben D Bus · 26-04-2012 11:38am

Portadown. Grim.

As is Dunnes in Portadown.

Kitty-kitty · 26-04-2012 2:09pm

nicechick! wrote: »

Dunness in my view based purely on the level of customer service is driven from the top down that it is a company in my view that does recognize the value there employees who contribute daily to the delivery of there bottom line figures. I have tried to google Dunnes looking for information regarding there company mission, values and shockingly can't find anything! Again suggests they take little pride in there employees. I found one article from a couple of years ago and it states they had approx 18000 people working for them! I believe they have Hr Managers taking care of the HR within there stores but to me the primary driver in there role is more like ''policing'' I couldn't find any reference to people engagement, motivation, training or development more like a role for maintaining policy, procedure, compliance measures which of course are important!

You had a lucky escape

While working in Dunnes I never met one person who actually enjoyed working there. There was no incentive to. The managers were constantly stressed, HR were people you only saw when you'd done something wrong (the HR office would open 9-5 Monday to Friday so if you worked evenings and weekends, as many students there did, you never saw HR) New rules would be enstated at random, only told to some people, not to others and managers were nearly always unaware of checkout rules (occasionally telling you in front of customers to break a rule the checkout's computer wouldn't let you do) Also despite having good workers who enjoyed being there, they had a habit while I was working there of taking people on for six months, not renewing their contracts... then hiring on other people, because it was cheaper than an eventual raise.

ANYWAY I DIVERGE. I think Stephen's Green Dunnes is nice. There are two Dunneses in the Ilac Centre, one which opens out onto Henry St and is nice and new...

... and another which sells the same clothes a one minute walk across the centre but is old and miserable...

The old Dunnes in Mullingar before it closed down was tragic.

highlydebased · 26-04-2012 2:10pm

All of them. Absolutely despise their shops.

ghostchant · 26-04-2012 2:12pm

The Dunnes that was on Northumberland Ave. in Dun Laoghaire, around the corner from the main one. Most depressing shop I've ever been in full stop. Apparently was built on the site of an old graveyard/church. Sounds about right.

Aglomerado · 26-04-2012 2:23pm

highlydebased wrote: »

All of them. Absolutely despise their shops.

And me! I really hate them. Especially the one in Ennis. Yes, EVEN if Father Ted Christmas Special was filmed there.

I always hated the one on Sarsfield Street in Limerick as well. Grotty place with rotten floor tiles.

toexpress · 26-04-2012 2:48pm

I remember years ago when we were kids my mother always shopped in Quinnsworth in Naas, my Aunt went to Dunnes in Newbridge. Now Quinnsworth was pretty crappy (remember yellow pack? cept for the Shepards Pie they did that was tasty) anyway I always thought that Dunnes was worse than Quinnsworth. Then in the boom times I was over here for a weekend went in with my sister and thought how far it had come. Then when I moved home I went to shop I went to shop there it was awful all the nice deli stuff and bakery stuff was gone to be replaced with a horrible air of recession. (Also there was some mess about having to have a pin number and be in a book to pay a bill by cheque and something else to do with Transax which all sounded dreadfully complex and we seemed to lack any sort of customer service)

So that's Dunnes in Newbridge getting my vote!

Mensch Maschine · 26-04-2012 3:06pm

It's got to be the one of North Earl St beside the Spire. All the winos, junkies, knackers, thugs frequent it. The off-licence part is worse. It's so depressing.

Ush1 · 26-04-2012 3:10pm

That sounds more like you've described Lidl.

toexpress · 26-04-2012 3:13pm

Mensch Maschine wrote: »

It's got to be the one of North Earl St beside the Spire. All the winos, junkies, knackers, thugs frequent it. The off-licence part is worse. It's so depressing.

Yes I suppose Dunnes does provide a place for these people to go ...

kieranfitz · 26-04-2012 4:01pm

donkey balls wrote: »

Jaysus the memories are coming back I used to deliver to all there stores around Ireland from memory these had to be some of the worst.
Wine st Sligo
Ballina
West port
Letterkenny(the old one)
Dundalk x2 not the newish one
North side shopping center
Cardiffsbridge Finglas(the wild west with the barriers and barbed wire it was like something out of mad max:eek:)
Tralee x 3
Arklow old one
Nenagh old one
Ballyvolane
Main street Cork
Dunnes westside Galway
Portlaise old one
Clomel x 3 although I heard they updated the one on the way out of the town
Ennis
There is probely more that I can't think off but have to say at least there deli counter was always better than tesco,And I am so glad that I no longer deliver to them some of the mgmt are absolute pr**ks, during the time that we had snow some years ago I had a manager give out to me that I was late.
I asked the knob were they late getting into work when they replied yes I answered back that they expected me to travel accross the other side of the country and be on time with the dodgy roads(black ice etc) with a 45 foot trailer behind me.

We were all pulled aside in groups during the bad weather those two years and told, whatever happened , to make sure we were in on time.

donkey balls · 26-04-2012 5:16pm

kieranfitz wrote: »

We were all pulled aside in groups during the bad weather those two years and told, whatever happened , to make sure we were in on time.

Jaysus some employers don't give a flying fook about their staff I ended up working for another retail chain, and the mgmt told us during the crappy weather if its to dangerous to drive pull in let the office and store know that your gonna be late.

paky · 26-04-2012 6:33pm

i agree with you op, all dunnes stores have a grim gloomy feel about them. its probably the ridiculous prices they charge for some stuff that gives them that feel. the staff are miserable as fcuk and contemptuous of customers. totally agree with the supervisors, you'd swear they were on a catwalk strutting their stuff. dopes in a need of a good hiding

cml387 · 26-04-2012 6:43pm

Dunnes in Kilkenny's McDonagh center is pretty grim.
Since Dunnes already had an aircraft hangar sized store at the other end of town,one might wonder why they had to open there as well.
One might surmise it was to keep Tesco out.

Since Clonmel has been mentioned, we must be unique in a town this sized to have three, two of which have been recently revamped.

But the economics of Dunnes Stores as a whole is extremely puzzling.

bettyl · 26-04-2012 8:57pm

Dunnes in Longford is a nice enough shop.

Most depressing Dunnes in Ireland?

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