Byrne's World of Wonder in receivership?

Judgement Day

All of Byrne's bookshops/newsagents in Enniscorthy were shut today with signs saying that they were closed for stocktaking but word on the street is that they are gone? It wouldn't be a surprise to those of us who follow these things but a lot of people that I spoke to were shocked. In my opinion it has been a long time coming and I'm sorry for the all the staff who will lose their jobs. Easons next?

Cantona's Collars

Heard the same earlier,feel sorry for the staff and Jim,always found him to be sound.
It's hard to keep a constant trade in toyshops and bookshops seem to be dying a death really.

sundula

Thats a blow if true. They have closed waterford, carlow and the unit in clonard was scaled way back. This recession is slowly grinding on.

McLoughlin

I worked for them before and can tell you they never closed a shop for stock taking they did it after hours.

There own fault they rose prices over the years and they couldn't compete with the Internet espcially in the toy market when it comes to christmas period today people buy online due to how cheap and easy it as. Byrnes in Wexford town never treated the staff well and customer service was poor they won't be missed by me yeah its a shame people are unemployed but thats the way things go.

When it came to the the bookshop the selection was dreadful compared to The Book Centre and it has never been able to compete with them.

aeonfusion

Yea here in enniscorthy they closed down 2 small newsagents and a larger toy shop, same rumours floating about. Feel sorry for the people who are soon to be rogered over their redundancy

Dilbert75

Possibly its also partly to do with getting involved in big out-of-town shopping centres at the height of the boom - presumably at big prices for floor space. They wouldn't be the only business to have done so very unwisely and its led to the closure of many businesses and the simultaneous death of many town centres. Sad.

mousehouse

I worked with them as a manager and have to say if this news is true I feel sorry for Brian and Jim and all the family who did try. It is a tough business to be in now especially with the internet...

mousehouse

Just been speaking to a person within Byrnes and it is true. The company has been placed into receivership and will be run by the accountants as a going concern, all stores will open tomorrow as normal. Lets hope there is a positive outcome for the Byrne family and the staff...

McLoughlin

Can't see a good future for them sorry about the staff.

Niles

I think that a lot of book shops are feeling the pinch; apart from the recession they have the growing dominance of Amazon, etc, to compete with. As for the toy section I guess parents just don't have as much to spend these days.

I agree though the book selection wasn't as good that of other retailers.

All the same, let's hope for a happy outcome for all involved.

Zhane

I worked for them also, It wasnt the best experience of my life. I feel really sorry for all the staff, but i hear They will be reopening tomorrow, which is good. Also, I feel for Jim Byrne, I really do. He built that company up and now this has happened.

I have heard that they have been on stop with the book accounts for quiet a long time. Senior management also treated people like, excuse my language, crap. They got a reputation for themselves that wasnt good, coupled with the store closures, limited stock across all departments it wasnt looking good. I did predict they would be closed by Christmas...

Judgement Day

The Enniscorthy shops are still closed today (Monday) and word is that they will stay closed. I heard that the company's debts may be as high as €15 million and up to 80 jobs are gone. I have to say that I wasn't a fan of Byrne's shops in general but I'm sorry to see more people out of work. The days of the general, High Street bookseller who doesn't have a depth of stock are gone the way of the Dodo. I can't remember the last time I bought a book in Ireland apart from in charity shops.

trevr

First post on boards !

Judgement Day..... you are ill informed on this matter. Two of the shops were open all day sunday and today. The BookShop in court st will reopen tomorrow i'm led to believe. I'm sure their will be job losses but as it is still trading as a going cocern by the receiver they are still employed. The situation is tough enough for those involved without misinformation being tossed about.....

Judgement Day

trevr wrote: »

First post on boards !

Judgement Day..... you are ill informed on this matter. Two of the shops were open all day sunday and today. The BookShop in court st will reopen tomorrow i'm led to believe. I'm sure their will be job losses but as it is still trading as a going cocern by the receiver they are still employed. The situation is tough enough for those involved without misinformation being tossed about.....

No need to be quite so confrontational with your 'first' post. I have just been down to the shop at the bottom of Slaney Place and, yes, it is open. I visited Court Street this morning and found the shop there still closed. I was heading for the Slaney Place shop but bumped into somebody I knew who assured me it too was still closed - I should have gone and checked myself but I had no reason to doubt them. Anyway, I don't think my posts here are going to have much affect on the future of Jim Byrne's empire.

PS Welcome to the Boards!

foxinsox

Same rumours going around Carlow...

Their shop here has been closed fri sat sun and today for stock taking.

It would be sad if it was to close.

1966

Sad to hear that but quite simply how can businesses like this compete with online book / toy sales ? Like other posters have said, I can't remember the last book I bought in a shop.................

maxer68

Judgement Day wrote: »

The Enniscorthy shops are still closed today (Monday) and word is that they will stay closed. I heard that the company's debts may be as high as €15 million and up to 80 jobs are gone. I have to saI fesiy that I wasn't a fan of Byrne's shops in general but I'm sorry to see more people out of work. The days of the general, High Street bookseller who doesn't have a depth of stock are gone the way of the Dodo. I can't remember the last time I bought a book in Ireland apart from in charity shops.

I despise rumor merchants that pick figured from the air and try putting them about as fact. €15m??? Where on earth did you get that figure? - the taxi driver or the hairdresser? If this was true they would have gone into liquidation years ago, and certainly not receivership.

Receivership means there's a good chance of a buyer as per superquinn but with any bad or over priced leases excluded.

If anyone wants to find someone to blame then look at the ridiculous council rated and exhorbinant rents that just did not decrease with the market.

Judgement Day

Despise all you like but some of us keep our ears to the ground - it will be in all the papers tomorrow anyway.

I very much doubt rents come into the equation whatever about rates.

trevr

Judgement Day, again you are ill informed and making remarks with no factual basis. Rents were very much a factor in the equation...... not so much in this county but elsewhere that they had stores.....

Judgement Day

trevr wrote: »

Judgement Day, again you are ill informed and making remarks with no factual basis. Rents were very much a factor in the equation...... not so much in this county but elsewhere that they had stores.....

I don't know about rents elsewhere (should have made that clear - so sorry!!) but Jim Byrne owns half the town in Enniscorthy (well Court Street anyway) in case you pick me up on that. Incidentally, this is the Wexford Forum and it is in relation to Byrne's in Wexford and Enniscorthy specifically that I'm posting about. Anyway, there's little point in going on about it - wait for tomorrow's papers.

trevr

Judgement Day wrote: »

I don't know about rents elsewhere (should have made that clear - so sorry!!) but Jim Byrne owns half the town in Enniscorthy (well Court Street anyway) in case you pick me up on that. Incidentally, this is the Wexford Forum and it is in relation to Byrne's in Wexford and Enniscorthy specifically that I'm posting about. Anyway, there's little point in going on about it - wait for tomorrow's papers.

Again, you're wrong, he doesn't own any of them anymore...... anyway as you say you'll be wiser after reading tomorrows papers :rolleyes:

McLoughlin

Rents are not an issue the reason the Byrnes have good down hill over the past few years in Wexford Town is due to poor customer service, poor treatment of staff, poor selection of books and magazines and stock in general with high laughable prices particularly in the Toy department.

Zhane

McLoughlin wrote: »

Rents are not an issue the reason the Byrnes have good down hill over the past few years in Wexford Town is due to poor customer service, poor treatment of staff, poor selection of books and magazines and stock in general with high laughable prices particularly in the Toy department.

I concur.

sundula

Zhane wrote: »

I concur.

+1

maxer68

Judgement Day wrote: »

Despise all you like but some of us keep our ears to the ground - it will be in all the papers tomorrow anyway.

I very much doubt rents come into the equation whatever about rates.

I'm not questioning the receivership. It's the €15million debt that you are suggesting. A company the size of Byrnes could not operate for the past 2 years with that size of debt and neither would receivers have been called in - it would have been a straight liquidation.

Your figures have no basis whatsoever.

And yes its rent and rates that have caused the closure of hundreds of retail shops in the country.

St Senan

Compare the Byrne's toy shops to the likes of Smyths or Ken Blacks. Compare the quality of the Toys sold in Byrne's. The Shop in clonard wexford never seemed to have the most up to date toys in say the Star Wars or Transformers series. Most of the {corps} Action figures fell to bits. The bookshop in Enniscorthy never seemed to be able to get in a new book. TBH it was a stage when the Byrnes world of Wonder was like the Mc Cauley chemists there was 1 in nearly every town in Leinster. During the BOOM

St Senan

trevr wrote: »

Again, you're wrong, he doesn't own any of them anymore...... anyway as you say you'll be wiser after reading tomorrows papers :rolleyes:

Does Jim Byrne own the whole corner building where the Maple Leaf Chinese restaurant is also the Building where a kids clothes shop is on Court street. And the shop where DV8 on rafter street is.

JimboJones74

sad to hear (if all comments above are true) if true.
Must to impossible for bookshops to compete with online rivals. Would Enniscorthy bookshop be 25 years old?

Pretty Polly

Zhane wrote: »

I concur.

+2
In my experience he wasn't the nicest to work for. Still though he did build up the business and for that he deserves credit.

scaller wrote: »

Does Jim Byrne own the whole corner building where the Maple Leaf Chinese restaurant is also the Building where a kids clothes shop is on Court street. And the shop where DV8 on rafter street is.

I think he owns the premises where Cooneys bakery is too but im open to correction on that one.

mike65

World of Wonder closed in Waterford when Smyths opened up two carparks away.

pablova

Zhane wrote: »

I concur.

i joined to specifically post on this matter. i always felt the customer service in byrnes wexford was excellent, i would agree with the issues regarding range and prices, but the staff in general were always lovely to deal with, i think if you worked for byrnes before mcloughlin you would know that

Dilbert75

I would have visited the Waterford store most and actually it stayed open in parallel with Smyths for quite a few years if I remember correctly. I too found the staff, and some of the supervisors/managers, to be very pleasant. Always thought that particular store was much nicer to visit than Smyths, but more expensive and less stuff. Invariably coming up to Christmas Smyths would be wedged but WoW would not. I do hate to see family-owned and locally-owned businesses fall by the wayside. I know / believe Smyths are Galway-based but they have a near-monopoly now on toys, except for the likes of Tesco, and that's never good.

Zhane

Sorry, I should have clarified my agreement, The Staff were always pleasant etc, it wasnt them. I apologise.

As I've stated, I have worked for them, and all of us had alot of respect for Mr Byrne. It was when the other two took over that it started to go wrong when the recession hit. They expanded too quickly with absolutely no infrastructure. Stock levels of quality toys were always a problem, and over stocked of the cheapest, tackiest rubbish. Over Priced, and as i said previously, had a reputation for being treating staff badly. Stocktake for 12 hours and no break?! Yes I've done it. With a high turn over of staff that they had, people talked.

pablova

i'd agree with you zhane fully in regard to the stock issues, it was very hard to get specifics here in wexford lately especially, i did hear alot about the treatment of staff too, i have known a few of them down the years it seemed that the company was poorly run from the top and staff were not respected enough once mr byrne stood aside by one or two key individuals

McLoughlin

The staff did there best but it was the management was dreadful.

pablova

McLoughlin wrote: »

The staff did there best but it was the management was dreadful.

i'd say the managers had very little say in anything there, by the sounds of it the top brass did all the "managing"
the chap managing there now seems a decent bloke tho don't think he could do alot more tbh

McLoughlin

pablova wrote: »

i'd say the managers had very little say in anything there, by the sounds of it the top brass did all the "managing"
the chap managing there now seems a decent bloke tho don't think he could do alot more tbh

The management that was is charge when I worked there was 2 of the byrnes themselves I seen how they treated me and other staff and the assistant managers.

Zhane

It was very much a Senior Management problem to staff morale. When 'He who shall not smile' wasnt there, the staff shone and it was a lovely place to work. There was like this darkness over the place when he was. Even the customers picked up on it.

pablova

McLoughlin wrote: »

The management that was is charge when I worked there was 2 of the byrnes themselves I seen how they treated me and other staff and the assistant managers.

thats what i heard too, it was one or two of the top lads causing most of the hassle, is it long since you were there?

Judgement Day

trevr wrote: »

Again, you're wrong, he doesn't own any of them anymore...... anyway as you say you'll be wiser after reading tomorrows papers :rolleyes:

Well, I've been through the Guardian this morning and I'm not much the wiser except for the fact that the property empire is also in receivership. No specifics on the amounts owed but no doubt that will come out in due course.

JohnnyBananas

scaller wrote: »

Does Jim Byrne own the whole corner building where the Maple Leaf Chinese restaurant is also the Building where a kids clothes shop is on Court street. And the shop where DV8 on rafter street is.

Jim Byrne definitely built and owned the Rafter Mall (on the corner of Rafter St and Church St). I am unaware of him ever selling it.

Padjo1981

Just walked past Byrns book shop in Enniscorthy, it is open and running as normal today.

St Senan

JohnnyBananas wrote: »

Jim Byrne definitely built and owned the Rafter Mall (on the corner of Rafter St and Church St). I am unaware of him ever selling it.

He did rebuild the old Aidan Doyle premises. He also had a pub in the building for a short while I think it was called the kingfisher. Thats over 20 years ago.

hop2it

scaller wrote: »

He did rebuild the old Aidan Doyle premises. He also had a pub in the building for a short while I think it was called the kingfisher. Thats over 20 years ago.

your right scaller the kingfisher was the name of the pub i remember a few of us 17 year old getting a pint there about 19 years ago and prawn crackers send down from upstairs

Cantona's Collars

hop2it wrote: »

your right scaller the kingfisher was the name of the pub i remember a few of us 17 year old getting a pint there about 19 years ago and prawn crackers send down from upstairs

That brings back memories,I used to drink there when I was a young fella,no need for fake id back then.:)

Saw today that the lotto machines have been removed from O' Learys newsagent.

enniscorthy

zerks wrote: »

Heard the same earlier,feel sorry for the staff and Jim,always found him to be sound.

my old mate........ and my dearest fellow

Darkglasses

Sad to hear about it in trouble. Even though it's obvious the selection of books, magazines and newspapers (as well as the more general shopping experience) was never a patch on the Book Centre in Wexford Town, I'm still sad to see it go down, there was something slightly plucky about it. Would never criticize the staff, always very friendly to me even when people before had spent the typical 5-10 minutes buying 1 scratch card or whatever at a time.

UBd

badly run businesses rack up debts and karma eventually calls on those who deserve it! sympathy for the excellent staff who will hopefully be snapped up buy businesses looking for good people. No sympathy for owners with no manners who probably get to keep their very expensive flashy cars and houses.

maxer68

UBd wrote: »

badly run businesses rack up debts and karma eventually calls on those who deserve it! sympathy for the excellent staff who will hopefully be snapped up buy businesses looking for good people. No sympathy for owners with no manners who probably get to keep their very expensive flashy cars and houses.

typical Irish post - business owners are always bad and drive flash cars.

Have you seen the cars the byrne's family drive???


A business like this - just like many other book & toy stores, simply got hit be the recession which still has not abated.

Its not bad management - its bad timing for growth and unable to roll back quick enough.

Would you say the same for Hughes & Hughes? - Or the old book shop in sligo that closed or the toy store in dawson street.

sundula

Thats unfair, recession has hit many many retailers hard and will continue to do so. Even Easons are now looking to shed 10% of its 1000 employees.

I know Jim Byrne to say hello too and see him around town and one thing he isnt is flash. He was driving an old commerical jeep for years - and not a marque one of those horrible korean things. I gather he drove that till It became uneconomic to repair and replaced it with a second hand vw commerical jeep - hardly what you would call living a champange life style.

Zhane

Hmmmm. I am gonna say that, yes they did have nice cars (a classic merc, 2 qashqui, and another fairly new expensive jeep, only one son had a 02 Mondeo I think)

Although I am sorry the business has gone the way it has, there is a certain level of karma invovled IMO. They arent very nice people.