Hows Your Main Street Looking?

Biggins

My nearest town main street is being decimated by closed up shops and buildings.
See this thread (With pics): http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055823611

I was just wondering how is your nearest main street doing?
Are main streets in the town as regards shopping, a thing of the past also?
Is it a recession thing or with all the businesses moving out of the town to industrial areas (some shops there whom have also closed up as well)?

Dartz

I'll bet theres a Tesco/Lidl/Big brand store just outside of town....

WindSock

It's doing ok, bar a hotel that has been closed. It's not unsightly but its a shame that it has closed as it is the centre of the town. There are also a few for sale signs on new apartments. And 1 other shop that has been closed since before Stephen.

Edit: Just saw your pics there Biggins, that's shockingly bad. Stupid fecking rates.

SeaFields

The shopping centre in which I have the misfortune to work currently has less than 30% occupancy, so apart from the anchor tenants, there is very little to draw people into the centre.

Last Saturday I watched the staff in two shops box up what was left of their stock and fittings as they were closing down.

That's four gone since Christmas....and their jobs too

Biggins

In our main street there is now 22+ (soon to be confirmed 24+) shops closed (see pics in the link above) - and thats just our main street!
Mad!!!

phasers

I'm pretty lucky that Liffey Valley is the closest thing I have to a main street where I live and the shops seem to be holding up ok.

extra-ordinary_

phasers wrote: »

I'm pretty lucky that Liffey Valley is the closest thing I have to a main street...

yes...yes you are...:rolleyes:

Glenster

I live in Bray so as you can imagine the main street has never been great but recently.......

6 Betting shops and 5 charity shops, and a gun shop near the dart! all on the main three roads in Bray.

Sometimes you just feel ashamed of where you come from........

Biggins

I suspect (and I could be wrong) that the more you get away from the big cities the more chance there is more a higher percentage of shops on your main street being closed.

sorrywhat

Theres a good few shops after closing up on the main st in my town. Halifax is another one to go now aswell. announced yesterday I think. Place is like a ghost town some days.

NothingMan

Living in Tallaght, Main st is a little old school and has mostly old buildings with small business's. There's a wool shop and jewellers in one building that has been there since way before my time and they're still going.

The square has maybe 1 empty space at the moment but there is a lot of turnover of shops. High st is pretty modern and no closed up shops that I can think of.

Then the retail areas like B&Q, homestores etc. Seem to be doing really well. The many pubs are all still pretty busy and jam packed thursday through Sunday.

I guess Tallaght has a huge population for it's small size so it's probably not as susceptable to dramatic drop in consumers as some smaller towns would be.

SeaFields

The guy that owns Corky's shoe shops was on Matt Cooper last week. I don't want to venture a guess now as I may misquote him but it was jaw-dropping when he said how much he has to pay in rent every week for his stores.

Developers win once again :mad:

biko

Shop street is still good but starting to look more English every year.
Unfortunately it's just more convenient to drive to a shopping centre than to walk around town to do the shopping. Particularly when it's cold and hard to get parking.

Biggins

Well I know one small store alone in my (main st) town had to pay €2000 a week to the local council and thats before they even paid hired staff, bought stock, paid for ESB. phone, water rates, made a profit etc.
The money being charged is madness.
One small cafe in a shopping centre has a small storage fridge underground (at the back) in a car park and they have to pay 1 million a year for the rental of the space!

HxGH

The shops in Bray Co.Wicklow are still open but it's still filthy...

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

I think it's more down to infrastructure as well. My experience in large Irish towns is that they tend to be large roads junctions with strings of shops on either side.

Take, for example, the continental model where most towns of the same size are pedestrian only. You get a lively center with coffee shops, small market stalls, which is clean, safe and and more peaceful. It's lovely to go shopping and exploring in them.

Also, the fact that there are far less chain stores than back home, and a lot more "individual" shops, so to speak. It's one of the first things I noticed when I got here.

SeaFields

Magnus wrote: »

.... hard to get parking.

That is not helping!!! I know they come up now and again in AH but the clampers and towers are like vultures around Cork city. I watched them clamp three cars next to each other last week in ten minutes. Those people, if they were shopping, wont rush back to the city in a hurry.

Businesses in the city really need to get that curtailed by lobbying the council as its just drives people out to the large shopping centres (like Mahon point) where the parking is free.

Quazzie

Magnus wrote: »

Unfortunately it's just more convenient to drive to a shopping centre than to walk around town to do the shopping. Particularly when it's cold and hard to get parking.

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

I think it's more down to infrastructure as well. My experience in large Irish towns is that they tend to be large roads junctions with strings of shops on either side.

Take, for example, the continental model where most towns of the same size are pedestrian only. You get a lively center with coffee shops, small market stalls, which is clean, safe and and more peaceful. It's lovely to go shopping and exploring in them.

Also, the fact that there are far less chain stores than back home, and a lot more "individual" shops, so to speak. It's one of the first things I noticed when I got here.

:rolleyes:

Bonito

My main street has (from the top of the town all the way to the bottom)

A church, petrol station, spar, some old houses, credit union, more old houses, a playschool, more old houses, combined clubs building (where all the clubs like judo, weight watchers etc meet up) Bank of Ireland, unisex clothes shop, furniture store, womens close shop, solicitor, mortgage advisor, bookmakers, the square (Library, town hall, small shop, hotel, clothes shop, some apartments built to the design of the hotel) about 4 pubs, entrance to tesco, letting agency, another pub, fast food place, cafe, taxi rank, doctors clinic, hardware store, another cafe, shoe shop, spar, national irish bank, school clothing and curtain shop, 2 pubs and restaurants, then a supervalu complex at the bottom of the town.

This is both sides of the street BTW.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Quazzie wrote: »

:rolleyes:

So you think the infrastructure is beyond criticism and there is ample parking? Or was it a case of something was said... Not good... Think of response.... searching... searching... Responce not found...!! Execute rollyeyes!! Execute rollyeyes!!

Biggins

Bonito wrote: »

My main street has (from the top of the town all the way to the bottom)

A church, petrol station, spar, some old houses, credit union, more old houses, a playschool, more old houses, combined clubs building (where all the clubs like judo, weight watchers etc meet up) Bank of Ireland, unisex clothes shop, furniture store, womens close shop, solicitor, mortgage advisor, bookmakers, the square (Library, town hall, small shop, hotel, clothes shop, some apartments built to the design of the hotel) about 4 pubs, entrance to tesco, letting agency, another pub, fast food place, cafe, taxi rank, doctors clinic, hardware store, another cafe, shoe shop, spar, national irish bank, school clothing and curtain shop, 2 pubs and restaurants, then a supervalu complex at the bottom of the town.

This is both sides of the street BTW.

Sounds like a good mix. Actually sounds better than ours at present.

Bonito

Biggins wrote: »

Sounds like a good mix. Actually sounds better than ours at present.

yeh, but, it's all on street parking now! traffic is a nightmare plus the main streets road is in an absolute state! The amount of money wasted on it is unreal! Like they tarred it, painted it, then had to dig half it up for "Improvement works" then they tarred over their mess of where they excavated leaving the surface uneven. Painted it, tarred over the paint, painted that, decided to rip up all the baths for fancy new blocks matching the town square. Side of the road left in a state from that. Painted over that and now the road is like a feckin rollercoaster! And not the good kind! the kind that just leaves you with a headache rather than a thrill!

biko

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

So you think the infrastructure is beyond criticism and there is ample parking? Or was it a case of something was said... Not good... Think of response.... searching... searching... Responce not found...!! Execute rollyeyes!! Execute rollyeyes!!

Tbh I haven't a clue what he's on about.

Bonito

Magnus wrote: »

Tbh I haven't a clue what she's on about.

Not a female? *runs to check Pete's thread*

Quazzie

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

So you think the infrastructure is beyond criticism and there is ample parking? Or was it a case of something was said... Not good... Think of response.... searching... searching... Responce not found...!! Execute rollyeyes!! Execute rollyeyes!!

I just found it amusing that both points for and against pedestrianized street shopping were made in the same thread oblivious of each other.

Magnus wrote: »

Tbh I haven't a clue what he's on about.

See Above

Bonito wrote: »

Not a female? *runs to check Pete's thread*

Que??

Dave!

Apartments all over the shop

Biggins

We don't even have one furniture shop in our main street, never mind a hardware store or credit union, a playschool (which would be handy for dropping the kids in (to nip away and go buy the basics), doctors clinic, etc...

One has to go further (some case much further) to find those. Our main street is just dead.

SeaFields

Biggins wrote: »

Our main street is just dead.

In keeping with the entire country really

Cianos

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

I think it's more down to infrastructure as well. My experience in large Irish towns is that they tend to be large roads junctions with strings of shops on either side.

Take, for example, the continental model where most towns of the same size are pedestrian only. You get a lively center with coffee shops, small market stalls, which is clean, safe and and more peaceful. It's lovely to go shopping and exploring in them.

Also, the fact that there are far less chain stores than back home, and a lot more "individual" shops, so to speak. It's one of the first things I noticed when I got here.

This. The Irish infrastructure is appalling and now that we're out of the easy times the failings of poor planning are becoming blatantly obvious. And it mostly comes down to population density. Irish towns are spread out far and wide, housing estates after housing estates, making everyone car dependent and commuting to the town centre becomes a chore rather than something enjoyable. A lot of people choose shopping centres over town centres because (gasp), the infrastructure of a shopping centre is car-orientated.

I'm definitely not saying that towns should be more car orientated because that is asking for a lot of trouble (take L.A for example), I'm saying towns should be pedestrian orientated. But we're in this mess because of the suburban sprawl that has blanketed the country - so it's not a question of making towns more pedestrian friendly, it's about putting more pedestrians on the streets! If more people lived within the towns themselves, there would be way more people walking to and fro, small independent and interesting businesses could flourish because they are serving local residents as well as out of towners who are drawn to the place because there are things going on and it hasn't become a ghost town like most Irish towns now at this stage.

dasdog

More shops opening. Thankfully plans to extend the Township were put on hold and the old Dundrum S.C. has come back to life. The local church is breathing a sigh of relief as it was scheduled to be surrounded by a monument to credit card consumerism on both sides.

Glenster

Furniture shop?

That's hardly something you'd expect to find in your average main street.

Surely the test for whether a shop should be on the main street is would you say to you partner "I'm just nipping down to the village for some......."?

Grocers, fishmongers, butcher, corner shop, post office, small cinema, resteraunts, video store, clothes shops, etc.

Dont most people get furniture delivered anyway? I know I do.

Keano

Well I live in a small town and only a few shops (sports, jewellers) have gone. It still has 7 pubs, 2 takeaways, an Indian, Chinese and Thai restaurant. Really surprised how they all keep going.

Dudess

Patrick Street in Cork is absolutely buzzing - looks really good and a bunch of new shops have been built. Not much evidence of the recession, weirdly enough.

My name is URL

There's no shops closed in my village, but there's a castle for sale for €2,750,000 and it's been on the market for a year now.. don't know why it hasn't sold.. seems like a bargain

http://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/bellingham-castle-castlebellingham-co-louth/103005

It was worth 7 million a few years ago, and the owners decided to hold out for more.. I bet they're sick now

SeaFields

Dudess wrote: »

Patrick Street in Cork is absolutely buzzing - looks really good and a bunch of new shops have been built. Not much evidence of the recession, weirdly enough.

One of those new big shops has let 35 people go since Christmas. I wont say which one but I know a manager and a few staff working there. Its a pity it didn't make the news because they opened it with such glamour and glitz saying how good it was for the people of Cork and how many jobs they were creating.

MaybeLogic

My name is URL wrote: »

There's no shops closed in my village, but there's a castle for sale for €2,750,000 and it's been on the market for a year now.. don't know why it hasn't sold.. seems like a bargain

http://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/bellingham-castle-castlebellingham-co-louth/103005

It was worth 7 million a few years ago, and the owners decided to hold out for more.. I bet they're sick now

Bellingham Castle.
My family used to live there when we lorded it over Louth, till we sided with King James against Billy and then the feckers kicked us out until we dwindled in stature, ending up 300 years later on a council estate.
As soon as I get a few quid together, I'm gonna raise an army, storm the place and reclaim my rightful heritage.
On topic; There's a few places boarded in Amsterdam but nothing like I see when I'm back in Dublin City Centre. And then not in the centre, you have to go outwards a bit to find any evidence of a recession.

Joey the lips

My local town is also drogheda. I live in Duleek. That never kicked off. There is empty units here since they were built years ago.

Dudess

SeaFields wrote: »

One of those new big shops has let 35 people go since Christmas.

Not surprised. I'm just struck though by how booming everything seems to be, even though it's obviously not. A Friday evening/Saturday afternoon in Cork is fairly chaotic.

Smcgie

Mine is full of potholes that's all

ToxicPaddy

My name is URL wrote: »

... there's a castle for sale for €2,750,000 and it's been on the market for a year now.. don't know why it hasn't sold.. seems like a bargain

Might be a bargin buying it, but imagine trying to maintain it????

The heating bill alone would bankrupt you.. as for furnishing it??? :eek:

Buying a place like that is the cheapest part if owning it..

Its not on enough land to attract someone to buy and build a hotel/golf club so its down to the private buyer who will try and make a business out of it.

I know of a couple who bought a large manor house in the Midlands with the intention of renovating it.. after 10 long years and hundreds of thousands spent on it, the place still looked a tip.. so they gave up.. cut their losses and ran..

If ya wanted to make a sequel to the film "Moneypit", there is your opportunity..

As nice as it is, I can see it sitting on the market for a long time to come.

Tox

BluesBerry

Its sad to see all those shops closing

In my main street several shops have closed A walkaround shop that had just opened 8 months ago , a shoe shop, An antique shop that sold very unusual things , a hairdresser, the only hotel, a birthday shop the travel shop a lot are laying empty and there is signs of more closing

Other shops have closed only to be reopened as ethnic shops selling asian/polish/african foods that the locals wouldn't shop in

The government say this recession will end soon......Pfft all these little shops that employed a couple of people that had been there for years are out of jobs it is happening everywhere but no one hears of it because its not a huge company its going to take a long long time to recover

reprazant

SeaFields wrote: »

The guy that owns Corky's shoe shops was on Matt Cooper last week. I don't want to venture a guess now as I may misquote him but it was jaw-dropping when he said how much he has to pay in rent every week for his stores.

Developers win once again :mad:

What have developers got to do with this?

Its the landlords who are charging the rent.

Also, nobody made him sign the leases other them himself. He has been trying to get somebody to take over the lease of his shop on Grafton St for years now (even going as far as to offer to pay 30% of the rent or something similar) but nobody will take it off him. Why? Because it is stupidly high rent. His own fault for agreeing to it.

SeaFields

Dudess wrote: »

Not surprised. I'm just struck though by how booming everything seems to be, even though it's obviously not. A Friday evening/Saturday afternoon in Cork is fairly chaotic.

Plenty of people in town - just not spending money. At least not as much as they used to. In the shop where I work people mention to me often "is it really this quiet all the time" - even at times when you would expect it to be busy

I suppose some chains expanded based on the celtic tiger level of spending and now that there has been a massive correction they are stumped.

I've made this point before in a thread but in many cases managers, and senior managers, in those businesses have never known anything but growth. They are now finding it difficult to adapt to the correction in the market and their lack of experience is showing.

SeaFields

reprazant wrote: »

What have developers got to do with this?

Its the landlords who are charging the rent.

Also, nobody made him sign the leases other them himself. He has been trying to get somebody to take over the lease of his shop on Grafton St for years now (even going as far as to offer to pay 30% of the rent or something similar) but nobody will take it off him. Why? Because it is stupidly high rent. His own fault for agreeing to it.

Apologies I got mixed up between two points I was making there. The centre where I work is owned by one of the biggest developers in the country. That is the one where I said has now less than 30% occupancy. Rent is driving the smaller businesses out of there and is costing ordinary people their jobs.

As for signing leases I refer to my previous post where some managers/ businesses knew nothing but growth in the previous years and made very poor business decisions as a result.

ScumLord

Nothings closed in my town other than a pub but that was because it was running without a license, been told our nightclub is shutting down. It's been on the go for 30 years or so and good riddens to the dump it's nothing but a buffer trap, the only reason people go into it is because it's the only place serving drink so they fleeced you €10 to get in to pay for over priced watered down drink. This great cull will get rid of epicenters of greed like that shytehole.

Biggins

Well apparently...

drogsnookerclub wrote: »

...they are putting art displays in all the empty shops on West Street (Drogheda), RTE are coming down to video it as well

I suppose that one use for what will be 24+ empty windows on a main st
(they are also coming down to record my wife and group pole dancing for "Operation Transformation" on a Wed' night soon - but who wants to see that! )

mikom

Dudess wrote: »

Patrick Street in Cork is absolutely buzzing - looks really good and a bunch of new shops have been built. Not much evidence of the recession, weirdly enough.

And lo it will come to pass, in the time known as the great recession a new capital shall arise to cast aside all false capitals before it.

Cuddlesworth

Biggins wrote: »

(they are also coming down to record my wife and group pole dancing for "Operation Transformation" on a Wed' night soon - but who wants to see that! )

What time, I think I can schedule it in...

rainbowtrout

I live in Boyle. About 80 businesses/offices/shops/pubs etc currently open. 40 empty/derelict business premises. 1000 signing on at the dole office and the population is only 2500. Not to mind plenty of ghost estates. Main St is dead.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Magnus wrote: »

Shop street is still good but starting to look more English every year.
Unfortunately it's just more convenient to drive to a shopping centre than to walk around town to do the shopping.

Which town?

ejmaztec

My name is URL wrote: »

There's no shops closed in my village, but there's a castle for sale for €2,750,000 and it's been on the market for a year now.. don't know why it hasn't sold.. seems like a bargain

http://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/bellingham-castle-castlebellingham-co-louth/103005

It was worth 7 million a few years ago, and the owners decided to hold out for more.. I bet they're sick now

You should offer them a few quid and you could then be Earl Url.