Aldi gets build approval in Ennistymon

Palmach wrote: »

Why oh why do we keeping making the same mistakes in this country. These supermarkets are environmentally unfriendly job killing and town emptying behemoths.

Quite the opposite actually. They bring a lot of people to the town, sell a lot of Irish produce, provide jobs and good career opportunities for people and run a very lean and efficient organisation which could teach most shops a thing or two.

dmc17 wrote: »

Quite the opposite actually. They bring a lot of people to the town, sell a lot of Irish produce, provide jobs and good career opportunities for people and run a very lean and efficient organisation which could teach most shops a thing or two.

All the international research disrpoves what you have posted. I recommend reading several well written books like Tescopoly, Not on the Label and Shopped to see the damage Big Supermarkets do to towns where they open. Have a look at Ballinrobe to see the end result.

Palmach wrote: »

All the international research disrpoves what you have posted. I recommend reading several well written books like Tescopoly, Not on the Label and Shopped to see the damage Big Supermarkets do to towns where they open. Have a look at Ballinrobe to see the end result.

I was referring to Aldi, not Tesco.

fryup wrote: »

they (aldi) want to open a store in killaloe now, right opposite supervalu

Good news actually. Supervalue in Killaloe is outrageously expensive. They will still sell their fancy stuff, but have to be more competitive now with everyday items.

Don't underestimate customers, they are no sheep. They buy their essentials (like washing powder, toilet paper, pasta and, yes, decent wine) cheaply at Aldi's and organic milk or specialty goods at Supervalue's.

So it's definitely a win situation for consumers and keeps overprized and monopolised supermarkets on their toes.

Aldi (or Lidl) are not the death of home made supermarkets, they give other companies a choice of being different and not a rip-off. If the management is clever, that is.

Palmach wrote: »

Kilrush has been ruined by Tesco and Aldi. Many small shops have closed down. 7 years ago you'd earn to get parking anywhere in the town centre, now you can take your pick. Remember for every 1 job the big supermarkets create 3 are lost in the area.

7 years ago - let me see, that was just before the economic bubble burst. After that one business after the next went bust, not only in Kilrush but in other towns as well. Hardly the fault of Tesco and Aldi.

Also, I'd like to know how you got the statistics that every job the big supermarkets create 3 are lost in the area. Genuinely curious.

Palmach wrote: »

Kilrush has been ruined by Tesco and Aldi. Many small shops have closed down. 7 years ago you'd earn to get parking anywhere in the town centre, now you can take your pick. Remember for every 1 job the big supermarkets create 3 are lost in the area.

When I lived in Kilrush before and after Tesco opened up, I still did a lot of shopping in Lidl and Aldi in Ennis. Shops in Kilrush were always expensive and failed to see this coming, the businesses with foresight and the business acumen have remained open.

Rumours are, that Tesco is in trouble, and if it is true, because people don't liked getting ripped off, regardless of those who are doing the ripping off.

Aldi and Lidl do a lot of smart things to cut costs that don't involve screwing over the suppliers or customers. I wish Tesco, Dunnes and Supervalu were a bit less sluggish when it comes to trying to beat the German chains at their own game. Smaller shops, faster tills, less reliance on brands and freezers etc.

BnB wrote: »

Are you serious ?

I would imagine they are. In Lidl/Aldi, the till operator says hello to you, then scans your shopping through without delay takes payment and says goodbye. I can't count how many times I've been in other shops waiting at a till while the person being checked out is having a full blown conversation with the till operator thus slowing down the whole process.
You may also have noticed that they don't have a packing area by the till itself. Again, they want you to put your stuff in your trolley and move out of the way as fast as possible.
I'm pretty sure if you compared the amount of items checked out per minute by till operators whilst on their till, Aldi/Lidl would come out on top.

I don't agree, Clareman. It's not a about bulk or small items, it's about the chatting, as mentioned above.

I hardly ever shop at Dunnes anymore, unless outside the grocery department. My usual twice monthly shopping trip to Ennis (I live in East Clare) is: Lidl, Aldi, Tesco, if neccessary some small shops in the town centre or if I forgot something at the Roslevan shop.

Apart from having a shopping list what I need and trying to get trough with, I'm always annoyed about the Tesco check-outs: They are alway chatting away with someone they know, and they are chatting and chatting ...

I do appreciate the personal approach, but there is a line between being personal and being efficient.

In Aldi/Lidl they make occasional personal remarks to the customers while scanning away the purchase. That's professional and nice. At Tesco they ignore other customers and treat them as if they were a nuisance.

Maybe it's a thing of management, maybe of payment. I've heard that at the German chains they pay very well and train very well.

Supervalu at Killaloe is a great shop while visiting the sunday market. It's a day out to visit the colourful market and stocking up with other stuff you think you need anyway, having lunch at some of the lovely cafés and driving home with the delightful feeling you bought stuff you don't actually need, but was a great experience to buy.

Now I imagine there is an Aldi at Killaloe. Instead of driving to Ennis I'd go to Killaloe to stock up with my stuff, going afterwards to Supervalu instead to Tesco to find the rest.

Now who is winning?

It's not always about competition, sometimes it's about addition and a win-win-situiation.

It's about time retailers start to think beyond their monopoly, which doesn't work in small towns anymore considering that people prefer to go for their sensible shopping elsewhere.

MrsD007 wrote: »

Now this is something we can agree on I like Queally's Supervalu, especially their new artisan range of local and Irish produce. I'm also a frequent visitor to the Farmers Market in Killaloe and it's a lovely experience. Sundays aren't complete without a visit to the Derg House café which is run by a delightful French couple, their pastries are simply to die for.

Indeed Have to check out the new artisan range now. And the French Café ... Their divine croissants though are usually sold out when I peel myself out of bed on a sunday.
But you see, tomorrow I have to go to Aldi in Ennis, because they have that special offer of skincare which is absolutely wonderful and a steal. It's gone in no time so I have to go on sunday.
Now if Aldi had a branch in Killaloe I would go there instead and buy stuff in Supervalu, too. And go to the market, and to the French Café, or the Italian one round the corner.
I think the businesses in Killaloe would profit from Aldi.

GreaseGunner wrote: »

A group objecting to the Aldi build are now claiming part of the site was used as a childrens graveyard. Makes for interesting reading on the Clare Champion site.

On first impressions it seems that they're very much grasping at straws at this stage. If it genuinely was previously used as a burial site, why wasn't the County Council made aware of this at the first mention of Aldi moving in?

At worst, I'm sure they could work around it, make amendments to building plans etc.

Ah, we are back in Ennistymon now, was still mentally in Killaloe.

I'm not familiar with the site, but as far as I understand there is the mart already standing and nobody bothered about the "unbaptised babies" before.

Now they dug up a woman who used to live around the place who once had arranged for a priest to bless a part of the fair green where children were believed to be buried.
Lots of subjunctives, or more plain speaking, lots of mays, believeds and supposeds.

Now, I won't get deeper into the hypocrisy of it all (the church not baptising babies and then allegedly blessing the place of their shame) and not into the obvious agenda of that commitee mentioned in the Clare Champion (grasping at straws, as you said) ...
... but why oh why do so-called close-knit communities (or culchie-villages - sorry) object to anything which eventually might benefit them?

Nobody cared about the cillíns if it suited them. Ireland is scattered with them.
I think it's shameful and disrespectful to use them for a seemingly selfish and small-minded agenda.

I don't even go into their other arguments quoted in that article. Otherwise I get dizzy shaking my head ....

Shapey Fiend wrote: »

I was in Tesco today and the lady on the till told me I could avail of a €10 off voucher on a €50 shop and dashed off to find me the correct newspaper, as a queue of 5 people materialised and got increasingly restless, so maybe I was underrating the personal touch.

The newspaper vouchers!

And personal service!

Now you are mentioning them, I've been at Aldi recently and they told me at the checkout that I get a voucher when buying the Independent.

As a service they had stacks of the Independent at the checkout, the checkout-girl (yes, it was a girl) cut out the voucher for me (and other customers) and I happily threw away the cut-up rag afterwards and got the discount.

Without the checkout-girl running around, anyone waiting or missing out at the discount. There :P

Shapey Fiend wrote: »

Religious orders in this country have an appalling record when it comes to these matters so I'd be more inclined to give the objectors the benefit of the doubt.

Agreed if it is genuine, but not if it's used for an agenda.

It looks like CCC have given planning permission for the new Aldi store in Killaloe.

http://www.clare.fm/news/council-gives-killaloe-aldi-green-light

Clare County Council granted Aldi planning permission for a store in Killaloe in August 2015. An Bord Pleanála have now overruled that decision.

'An Bord Pleanála stated that the proposal would seriously injure the visual amenity and character of the streetscape on the southern approach to Killaloe'.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/aldi-suffers-blow-as-rural-store-plan-knocked-back-34455372.html

Red Clover wrote: »

You obviously haven't seen the six grocery shops which been boarded up in Kilrush since Tesco came to town. Look at Henry Street, is there two shops left in the whole street? Look at the towns and villages around. Kilkee has lost two grocery shops, a butcher and a draper. Villages like Kilbaha, Carrigaholt, Cooraclare etc. have been 'hollowed out' and that leads inevitably to closure of banks, post offices etc. What now for job creation with zero hour contracts from the international chains?

The writing was on the wall for all these business years ago, they had a captive audience fro many years and milked it for all its worth. When the multiples came, people and been shopping in Ennis for a few years already. I remember shopping in Kilkee during the eighties and nineties a major percentage of my wages went on shopping. The shops did not care then and it was too late for them to maintain customers when Super Valu, then Tesco and Aldi came, people voted with their pockets.

We're already seeing Tesco trying to sell off their large out of town superstores. The era of the big box retailer is probably coming to a close and we'll see everything move online over the next decade. Same thing for retail in general. You'll have your distribution centre in each town stock whatever you want and click your items then get them the same day. That's my thinking anyway. Maybe you could get your locally grown non-irradiated vegetables, bakery bread and other independent products there too.

I'm thinking the main hurdle is lots of people aren't home to receive their deliveries during work hours. Maybe we'll all have a parcel motel type locker in our front gardens.. you'd need a refrigerated section though! This is all starting to sound like The Jetsons.

Yup I saw the work being carried out when I was back at the weekend. That's a fast turnaround as well. It's great to see it getting going finally and we won't feel it til November. It could be an awkward location given the traffic volume but I suppose all that has been factored in as well.