What's with all the newsagents opening up?

joeKel73

Anyone else notice the large amount of small newsagents opening up around Galway recently?

There's one opened on Eyre Street.
One opened beside the bike shop near Argos, but closed down again.
One opened down from O'Connells on Eyre Square.
One opened on the corner beside CPs.
And most recently another opened on cross-street.

Seems to be a new one opening every week if not less....

brianthebard

YES!
I said this to my gf several times but she sort of patted me on the head. There seems to be loads of them popping up, they aren't big establishments either. My guess is that people are tending to grab something for lunch in a shop or get a slightly cheaper coffee from these shops rather than going for lunch every work day.

I guess setting up a corner shop isn't very capital intensive and it is an attractive option for people wanting to start a business.

I think the one across from CPs is connected to Riordans.

Dutchess

Certainly noticed. The above seem reasonable explanations. It still seems like a lot though.

KevinVonSpiel

foto joe wrote: »

Anyone else notice the large amount of small newsagents opening up around Galway recently?

There's one opened on Eyre Street.
One opened beside the bike shop near Argos, but closed down again.
One opened down from O'Connells on Eyre Square.
One opened on the corner beside CPs.
And most recently another opened on cross-street.

Seems to be a new one opening every week if not less....

Obviously, what we are seeing here is the green shoots of recovery.

Tom Ghostwood

But rents are still astronomical & people expect everything for cheap these days because the supermarkets are having price wars. It doesnt make sense to me.

Mrs OBumble

KevinVonSpiel wrote: »

Obviously, what we are seeing here is the green shoots of recovery.

There's another on Eglington St, near Sam Baileys.

I've wondered the same thing.

Suspect that many of them are funded by the govt (BWEA or whatever it's called) ... wonder how many of 'em will last once their subsidy ends.

Noticed last night that "Finnegans Corner Store" (by CPs) now has signs upstairs about it being a gift shop. Not quite sure how anyone would get into the upstairs bit. (Having a newsagent there makes sense though, 'cos it has late opening hours and a secure hatch to keep ye all out!)

Tom Ghostwood

BWEA is a one off grant of 1000e euro, you get to keep 100% of your social welfare for first year & 75% of of it for the second year. Thats it. Hardly worth running up a string of bad debts with suppliers for that.

I reckon its like a lot of business' that open up, People think its a good idea, their family & friends support them & next thing you know
they are shut within three months. But anyone impartial looking at the business knows its going to fail.

Galwayps

I suspect from owning my own business that the reason is cash flow. Quick turnaround of stock even at a low profit gives you access to cashflow which is all the banks want to see at the moment. If you don't have it you are in trouble.

dapto1

Some of them remind me of a "corner shop" set up in Tralee a few years back. Nothing really on the shelves, staff most uninterested... Yeah, it was a brothel.

Xiney

Tom Ghostwood wrote: »

BWEA is a one off grant of 1000e euro, you get to keep 100% of your social welfare for first year & 75% of of it for the second year. Thats it. Hardly worth running up a string of bad debts with suppliers for that.

I reckon its like a lot of business' that open up, People think its a good idea, their family & friends support them & next thing you know
they are shut within three months. But anyone impartial looking at the business knows its going to fail.

If you open up as a ltd company, you're not responsible for any debts you rack up in the business name.

Mrs OBumble

Tom Ghostwood wrote: »

BWEA is a one off grant of 1000e euro, you get to keep 100% of your social welfare for first year & 75% of of it for the second year. Thats it. Hardly worth running up a string of bad debts with suppliers for that.

If you're going to run out of JSB, and aren't eligible for (much) JSA 'cos of too much assets, then anything that will stretch the JSB out for a while is tempting. (I'm not 100% certain that the system works like this .. suspect it might though).

Xiney

No JustMary -

There are two different streams for BTWEA:

1) For people on JSB, they can go on BTWEA until their JSB runs out, and then they get nothing

2) For people who have been on JSA for 12 months (ugh) they can go on BTWEA and retain their full JSA payment for the first 12 months of BTWEA and then 75% of it for the second. It used to be a four year scheme decreasing to 50% and 25% in the last two years respectively, but you also had to be on JSA for a whopping 24 months at which point I strongly suspect your brain would have turned to mush and you'd have no chance of succeeding anyway.

Head The Wall

Xiney wrote: »

If you open up as a ltd company, you're not responsible for any debts you rack up in the business name.

Suppliers are very cagey on giving too much stock on credit nowadays, so these people may have to be paying COD initially. I'd imagine it wouldn't be too easy to run up these debts in todays environment as the suppliers would be more realistic to the business being a success or not and them getting paid

Xiney

Oh I completely agree - but the comment I was replying to was "Hardly worth running up a string of bad debts with suppliers for that."

siltirocker

foto joe wrote: »

Anyone else notice the large amount of small newsagents opening up around Galway recently?

There's one opened on Eyre Street.
One opened beside the bike shop near Argos, but closed down again.
One opened down from O'Connells on Eyre Square.
One opened on the corner beside CPs.
And most recently another opened on cross-street.

Seems to be a new one opening every week if not less....

I won't list (cause im not bothered :P) but you haven't named HALF of them that have opened since the summertime. It's crazy!

Thargor

At least Newsagents are guaranteed to sell some stuff, I cant believe the amount of fish shops around the city and county.

Xiney

well... we are right by the atlantic

Thargor

They werent there during the boom though.

Xiney

I think the fish shops are a case of scarce jobs leading people to trying out self employment in something they know and love. I should know :P

Thargor

Thargor wrote: »

They werent there during the boom though.

Rents too high maybe?

toiletduck

Yeah I've been saying this for weeks!

ErnieBert

New newsagents everywhere alright. There seems to be a lot of long established traditional newsagents in the city so maybe others want a bit of the action. Too many cooks in the kitchen and all of that....!

Also, chemists! There are four within a few hundred meters of each other in Salthill. There's a three in Knocknacarra too.

Also, coffee shops! I saw another new one on Shop Street yesterday. I bought an Americano but it was sour. Mocha Beans are moving into the old Meadows and Byrne Store on Abbeygate Street.

Next thing will be camera shops and bakeries. There is a Fuji Centre going in to the defunct John Deely shop and a french bakery going in to the ex Galway Taxi office on Mainguard Street.

ErnieBert

And what's the story with everybody selling pizza ? Pizza shoops everwhere as well as kebab shops selling pizza.

cfeeneyinterior

Yea,
Like everyone else, was wondering the same thing about the news agents. The Fuji place will have to be better than a wacky hat shop! The french Bakery sounds interesting, give Griffins a run for their dough.

I noticed a couple of units being fitted out this evening - are these signs of pulling out of the nosedive?

toiletduck

ErnieBert wrote: »

Also, chemists! There are four within a few hundred meters of each other in Salthill. There's a three in Knocknacarra too.

Salthill is fast becoming the pharmacy and hairdressing quarter of Galway.

brianthebard

Deleted User wrote: »

I noticed a couple of units being fitted out this evening - are these signs of pulling out of the nosedive?

Depends on how long they last.

ErnieBert

Spoke too soon.

The newsagents on High Street/Cross Street seems to have shut down already.

howyanow

the one on high/cross st will be opening again in 5 or 6 weeks im told,waiting to add sandwhich bar i think and open properly when its done.