Waterford Chain-Retailers vs Elsewhere

Baby4

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wmpdd3

Debenhams are not interested in promoting the concessions they house in their store. When that store was Roches Top Shop, Oasis, Warehouse etc were all much bigger. When Debs took over they shrunk their mats and put them in one pokey place.

Waterford does have very little Solus stores compared to say Kilkenny and Wexford, this is directly related to rents.

I also think the parking in the town is exppensive, BUT, city square et al is are always full. Prices would only reduce if there was no demand.

What I can say is in the past 4 years, alot of the retail managers I worked with have relocated to Clonmel, Kilkenny, Wexford and Dungarvan as thats where the chains are.

deisemum

I've noticed that city square car park is very easy to get a space these days especially the upper level and the lower level car park has been closed during most of my recent visits though I suspect that's different on Saturdays.

The price of parking just puts me off shopping in the city centre. Online is so much easier and usually cheaper with a better choice.

michellie

deisemum wrote: »

I've noticed that city square car park is very easy to get a space these days especially the upper level and the lower level car park has been closed during most of my recent visits though I suspect that's different on Saturdays.

The price of parking just puts me off shopping in the city centre. Online is so much easier and usually cheaper with a better choice.

Yep I find it very quiet too. I just cant justify paying that for parking anymore, I do a lot of my shopping online, and sell stuff online too. If I want a big shopping spree I get in my car and go to somewhere with good shops(not waterford).

In saying that I've heard that H&M and New look are opening here soon.

daenerysstormborn3

Shopping in Waterford is a nightmare if you're not someone who is just looking for whatever is "fashionable". If you're not looking for the skinny jeans/over sized top with platform heels look or the little dolly bird dress with platform heels look then the shops don't seem to cater for you.

I have lived here for a year and have been into town shopping twice. I would rather go all the way to Dublin than waste my time going into town.

MiseryCat

Waterford city is a joke I mean There's too many fast food **** food Restaurants,Its lacking a Really good music store ,There's clothes shop that sells the same thing outfits,the car parks are a joke,The place is dying. "(

babyjames

As a man from Waterford and used to be proud of it, lol, I have to agree with certain aspects of what you are saying, I will not drive to Waterford anymore to shop, purley because of the parking, and the ****e variety of the shops whithin the city centre, It is a nightmare and to pricey, They have stopped certain shops opening on the outer ring road to stop what the call the doughnut effect, Great idea lads, the shops that want to open there bring employment and other passing trade, To go back to the parking, I got two tickets on two days in a row and looking at the time on the tickets they were issued in a matter of minutes within my parking, the first one within one minute it was issued outside the the cathederal, Okay I parked in a handicaped space, I will not and do not do that, I have often left a carpark and spent 10 to 20 mins driving around looking for a space before I would take one ,but on the morning in question I came up from the clocktower it had just rained and the sun was now out in my eyes, the spaces were marked in white paint and could not be seen ,okay my fault but if you can't see the markings??? they are meant to be blue, and if the bas**d / git was looking at me why not come over and tell me, The second was outside the NIB bank just a little bit down from it, I came up from the same direction no sign to say no parking, But if you came down from the supermacs side sure enough there it was, The powers that be are hellbent on killing the city, Now we have the prospect of one lane only on the quay coming , In my opionon just to try and drive people over the new bridge and make a few bob of it, I hope the City council realise they are killing our fair city, thanks lads proud huh, How many more people have to go and shop elsewhere to make ye cop on , this girl spent her hard earnt money on her dress outside of Waterford because of ye ,

And also as a footnote It cost me 1.80 to go to my Grandmothers funeral on Ballbricken , Ye must be so proud glad I'm out of it.


P.s I hope you enjoy the wedding

Baby4 wrote: »

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Media999

id say theres an average of 3 threads per day for the past ten years of people complaining about the price of parking.

shop online. **** the shops. if they cant be bothered doing something about it then dont shop there.

shops are only waiting for there lease to run out to close down. selling tat in waterford that people from kilkenny wouldnt buy.

Amzie

Parking is a disgrace in Waterford, i will always put a ticket on my car even if im gone for like 5mins because thats how cunning the parking wardens are!!!:rolleyes:

Shops....What shops!! Debenhams has been going down hill ever since it kicked out river island, warehouse,topman, pull and bear and then there was loads more choice in there for older people too.. its a joke in there with them just pushing their own brand crap!! and jane normans gone too!!

I definitely prefer shopping in cork or dub.

Only place to get something in town I suppose is pennys:) Its not the best quality but sure it does the job!!!

abouttobebanned

And just a quick point. Nobody will open a music store anymore. Like newspapers, they have been murdered by the Internet.

decies

Honestly I shake my head sometimes with the general posts on here , the parking ****e, its too much , the shops are useless , I buy all my shopping on the Internet , I think we should all go back to the good old days of hopping on a plane to new York ,great bargains there and cheaper parking as well. It's your own Money at the end of the day ,just don't expect any jobs locally for your children when they grow up.

decies

Just to add theres very little diversity in shopping around the country , same all usual stores all over the place , but if that's what we Irish want that's we get.

Max Powers

decies wrote: »

Just to add theres very little diversity in shopping around the country , same all usual stores all over the place , but if that's what we Irish want that's we get.

I think Waterford City is nice for shopping, nice size, good selection of shops. I would like to see a couple of other retailers go in such as H&M who do reasonably priced clothes and my missus would love to see a brown thomas, but besides that, its no different to any of the other Irish cities in my opinion.

I did hear H&M are going to set up where the brassiere is after some building work is done

merlante

decies wrote: »

Honestly I shake my head sometimes with the general posts on here , the parking ****e, its too much , the shops are useless , I buy all my shopping on the Internet , I think we should all go back to the good old days of hopping on a plane to new York ,great bargains there and cheaper parking as well. It's your own Money at the end of the day ,just don't expect any jobs locally for your children when they grow up.

People also seem to think that jobs come from the jobs fairy who lives in America and the UK. Too few Irish people, Waterford people in particular, start up their own businesses. The OP reckons there's nothing for a wedding in Waterford compared to elsewhere. That's identifying a need and demonstrating that there is a business there. Why don't more people open up businesses to satisfy these needs? A lot of people are unemployed but there are also plenty of people with enough money to start a business but they choose not to.

I also think that we have another problem in Waterford and perhaps elsewhere. When people talk about shopping they talk about H&M, M&S, Debenhams, etc. They never talk about smaller shops, or indigenous shops, and seem to regard them with a kind of contempt. I can't remember even hearing Shaws get mentioned on here, even though it's a fairly substantial department store. I think that while people pretend to care about indigenous businesses, they really see them in a lesser light to the UK high street stores, which seem to give people a sense of importance or of being somewhere fashionable, even though often the clothing brands are actually the same.

So basically, I think we need to set up our own businesses and also spend our money in them. Every week a new business that many people on here would profess to care about opens its doors. It sticks around for 6-8 months, most of you never go in or even find out about it, then it closes down. Who do you want to blame about that? The council?

Go in to town. If you don't like the parking then take the bus or, god forbid, get off your lazy arse and walk. Go for a good walk along the Quay, O'Connell st., Patrick st., the viking triangle, etc, as well as the normal shopping areas. I guarantee you will be surprised at what you find. If you find something good, try to give them your custom and tell your friends. This is how boutiques, for example, survive in tiny towns around the country. These businesses need your enthusiastic support, not your contempt. We need local people starting business and patronising businesses. We can't rely on the jobs fairy to solve all our problems.

deisemum

merlante wrote: »

People also seem to think that jobs come from the jobs fairy who lives in America and the UK. Too few Irish people, Waterford people in particular, start up their own businesses. The OP reckons there's nothing for a wedding in Waterford compared to elsewhere. That's identifying a need and demonstrating that there is a business there. Why don't more people open up businesses to satisfy these needs? A lot of people are unemployed but there are also plenty of people with enough money to start a business but they choose not to.

I also think that we have another problem in Waterford and perhaps elsewhere. When people talk about shopping they talk about H&M, M&S, Debenhams, etc. They never talk about smaller shops, or indigenous shops, and seem to regard them with a kind of contempt. I can't remember even hearing Shaws get mentioned on here, even though it's a fairly substantial department store. I think that while people pretend to care about indigenous businesses, they really see them in a lesser light to the UK high street stores, which seem to give people a sense of importance or of being somewhere fashionable, even though often the clothing brands are actually the same.

So basically, I think we need to set up our own businesses and also spend our money in them. Every week a new business that many people on here would profess to care about opens its doors. It sticks around for 6-8 months, most of you never go in or even find out about it, then it closes down. Who do you want to blame about that? The council?

Go in to town. If you don't like the parking then take the bus or, god forbid, get off your lazy arse and walk. Go for a good walk along the Quay, O'Connell st., Patrick st., the viking triangle, etc, as well as the normal shopping areas. I guarantee you will be surprised at what you find. If you find something good, try to give them your custom and tell your friends. This is how boutiques, for example, survive in tiny towns around the country. These businesses need your enthusiastic support, not your contempt. We need local people starting business and patronising businesses. We can't rely on the jobs fairy to solve all our problems.

If they started improving their customer service they might encourage more business. They employ some of the rudest staff I've ever encountered and some of the staff are like the old farts you'd find on "Are You Being Served?" and has it's very own Mrs Slocombe and Captain Peacock types.

decies

deisemum wrote: »

If they started improving their customer service they might encourage more business. They employ some of the rudest staff I've ever encountered and some of the staff are like the old farts you'd find on "Are You Being Served?" and has it's very own Mrs Slocombe and Captain Peacock types.

Your right about the latter alright lol

Psychedelic

I honestly do not understand what the gripe is with parking. First of all the price, it's only a measley few euro for a few hours, hardly going to break the bank. And if you are already intending to go in to town to do your shopping you should be able to afford that few euro. I mean, if you are going in to buy a dress or do the shopping worth €100, is the few euro for parking going to stop you?

The way some people go on they think the City Council controls all parking and should make it free to everyone. Next thing you will be saying the Council should pay for your bloody petrol. If you don't like the associated costs of running a car, such as parking, then use public transport (bit cheaper than parking but it still costs) or walk.

On the availability of parking, I don't drive myself but in all my life of travelling into town with other drivers, I have never seen them unable to find a parking space. Ever.

On parking tickets, if you don't want a ticket then don't park in handicapped spaces, loading bays, double yellow lines and don't chance your arm by not paying for your parking.

Final point, I won't argue about the choice of fashion, but if people want to shop online or go up the country instead of Waterford then more shops will close here, you will have even less choice than before and more people here will be unemployed. By the way, people are complaining about parking in Waterford but at the same time are willing to spend more money on petrol and parking to travel up to Dublin/Cork/KK/wherever.

michellie

Psychedelic wrote: »

Final point, I won't argue about the choice of fashion, but if people want to shop online or go up the country instead of Waterford then more shops will close here, you will have even less choice than before and more people here will be unemployed. By the way, people are complaining about parking in Waterford but at the same time are willing to spend more money on petrol and parking to travel up to Dublin/Cork/KK/wherever.

Id rather pay the extra few bob on petrol and buy something I like or need rather than settle for something I could buy in a shop in waterford and not be 100% happy with that purchase.

In saying that, I will always check the shops in town before I resort to buying online or travelling to shop.

If the shops are worried about sales/jobs they should stock the shops better.

dayshah

Yep, too much focus on the franchises. I buy a lot of my clothes in JC Originals. I used to go to icon when they were around. I miss them

RE parking, I normally walk into town, or get a bus. It keeps me fit and trim, so its easy to find sizes for me

Baby4

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dayshah

Baby4 wrote: »

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Just curious, how good are the women's independent clothes shop. Do they only cater for the older age bracket? Not very fashionable, sizes don't fit well?

Just curious as I think the men's independent shops offer very good value, and are fairly fashionable.

Media999

Max Powers wrote: »

its no different to any of the other Irish cities in my opinion.

Sorry but what the **** are you on. My head nearly exploded reading this absolute tripe.

Are you genuinely serious? do you actually believe that thats the truth and every single other person here is wrong when they say Waterford is turned into a complete ****hole.

You honestly believe that Waterford is the same as Dublin and Cork??

Jesus Christ

Max Powers

Media999 wrote: »

Sorry but what the **** are you on. My head nearly exploded reading this absolute tripe.

Are you genuinely serious? do you actually believe that thats the truth and every single other person here is wrong when they say Waterford is turned into a complete ****hole.

You honestly believe that Waterford is the same as Dublin and Cork??

Jesus Christ

Like I said, Cork, Galway and Limerick have a couple of other shops such as H&M and Brown Thomas that we dont. Besides that, there is a good selection here and if we had Brown thomas and a couple of bigger shops, we would be no different to the other regional cities.

Media999, all you seem to do here is complain and whine about we dont have this, dont have that, nothing constructive added to the threads. There is only a minority of people on here who bad-mouth our city. Most of these complainers who spout their bar-stool talk have probably never lived elsewhere so have only their holidays or odd weekends to compare. So, why dont you man-up and move to Dublin or abroad if all you are going to do is be a nay-saying complainer.

I like to complain myself about the state of our public reps, where our taxes are spent etc but one thing I have never done is bad-mouth my home-town or country. I am guilty of bad-mouthing those who run the place.

wmpdd3

I worked in a few UK chains in town in the last few years and I saw the hassel they had trying to find larger premises in the town, they gave up...

The reason Newbridge has a €4 per day charge is because location of the center is like the location of the center in Railway Square, it doesnt attract all day parkers working in the town as it is considered far out. As is the McDonagh Station center in Kilkenny.

Also Newbridge was dead in the day time as so many people living in Newbridge were working in Dublin during the day. I worked in that shopping center for a few weeks when it opened first and it was like a ghost town before 17:30 every week day, so they had to do something to fix that.

I never have a problem finding a car space in Waterford... ever.

I havent had a parking ticket since I lived in Gladstone st 15 years ago.

I always put 20c on the car even if I'm just stopping for a minute.

Media999

Max Powers wrote: »

Like I said, Cork, Galway and Limerick have a couple of other shops such as H&M and Brown Thomas that we dont. Besides that, there is a good selection here and if we had Brown thomas and a couple of bigger shops, we would be no different to the other regional cities.

Media999, all you seem to do here is complain and whine about we dont have this, dont have that, nothing constructive added to the threads. There is only a minority of people on here who bad-mouth our city. Most of these complainers who spout their bar-stool talk have probably never lived elsewhere so have only their holidays or odd weekends to compare. So, why dont you man-up and move to Dublin or abroad if all you are going to do is be a nay-saying complainer.

I like to complain myself about the state of our public reps, where our taxes are spent etc but one thing I have never done is bad-mouth my home-town or country. I am guilty of bad-mouthing those who run the place.

Ive lived in 4 different countries and 9 different counties with work and college. Id prefer to call myself a realist than a pessimist but in Waterford there the same thing.

I respect the fact that you wouldnt say a bad thing about your hometown but the longer people refuse to accept the longer the problems go on.
It absolutely sickens me that Waterford has degenerated into the city it has become. 575 people let go and a complete fool of a minister shows up and smiles for the cameras as if shes won a prize then not another word. no help for them whatsoever. Itll be another 2-300 from somewhere else soon and the same thing will happen. Empty shops all over town. Students coming in from other counties treating the place like **** then going home.

City full of people who havent worked for 10 years then blame the recession that theres no work because its an easy place to live a comfortable life on the dole. happens eveywhere but i can tell you from experience its a far bigger problem here than just about anywhere else ive been anyway. Its just a perfect storm of problems.

Waterford laddy

i try to shop in "local" shops
Tony Roche & Gregs for menswear - personal service!
brunch, mclearys, bodega, revolution, for local food from local ppl
unfortunately cant buy dvd's in a locally owned store anymore - a shame
Shoes - Phelans or the show centre
Medication/after shave - powers on ballybricken or mulligans
furniture/ carpet - tony burke and gary crowe

please feel free to add to this list and support our local companies

morebarn

Waterford Laddy:

Its great that you support so many local retailers. Unfortunately,even on your list, Tony Bourke is now gone. His business was taken over by O,Keeffes furniture from Clonmel. Despite having a thriving business up there, even they struggled to make it in Waterford. Brought Tony back to try to use his local expertise,but he couldnt turn it around either.

We always bought our furniture from him when possible, so its sad to see another local bow out.

Deisesun

Debenhams in mahon point is very good

mike65

Free parking Monday Tuesday Wednesday would be my recommendation but will they listen?

BBM77

Psychedelic wrote: »

.... By the way, people are complaining about parking in Waterford but at the same time are willing to spend more money on petrol and parking to travel up to Dublin/Cork/KK/wherever.

I was going to write a post about this but you got there first. I mean what kind of bs logic is that. The cost of driving to Dublin shopping is multiples of what you would spend in Waterford. All to buy pointless mass produced crap that has no real value at the end of the day.

jennygirl

who don't we or boards or local business start a campaign with large posters in windows "Shop Local" buy in Waterford and support 900 jobs (guess) - would it make a difference. ive seen it in Wexford town, seems to work.

hardybuck

jennygirl wrote: »

who don't we or boards or local business start a campaign with large posters in windows "Shop Local" buy in Waterford and support 900 jobs (guess) - would it make a difference. ive seen it in Wexford town, seems to work.

I tried to do that recently, and seriously wasted my time. Was hoping to buy two pieces of sports equipment which are stocked in most major sports shops, and I've been buying these same two pieces of kit for about 10 years.

I live close to Dundrum Shopping Centre and all three of the sports shops there were stocking both products, and all the same price. I decided that as I was going home at the weekend I'd try and buy it in Waterford.

So, I went to four shops in Waterford. Three of them chain, one of them family owned. NONE of the shops in Waterford were stocking one of the items, and only one were stocking the other item, and at a way higher price. I ended up buying it in Dublin for about 30% cheaper. Won't be planning many shopping excursions in Waterford for a while again.