Main st Portlaoise=Ghost Town?

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

sas

Pretty much have to agree, it's not something I like to see.

The problem is that the Tesco centre has unlimited (pretty much) free covered parking. There is very little going to counteract that.

Another issue for main street is that most of the premises were previously small houses. There are maybe 3 that are sizeable enough to house the businesses inside the shopping centres. We're really depending on business poping up that don't require huge storage space etc.

There isn't a whole lot the council can do (now) about this in my opinion. Better planning years ago could have potentially offset this. There is no way they can afford to reduce rates at the current time so that's not an option.

joe_dunne

I know from talking to ex traders that the rents being asked are in my opinion very high.

The main street is ideal for smaller independent / specialised traders who don't need a massive shop front but an accommodation would have to be made in regards to the amount of rent they could pay.

Maybe the Main Street is doomed but I hope not.

Joe
Bujinkan Portlaoise

MidlandsM

I noted recently that Egans closed their Deli shop to the side of the pub premises. Its a bad sign when you see a guy who owns the building, close his own shop.

elvis jones

parking is the main issue for me. When you have kids to get out and loaded the main st is a complete pain to try and do that.

Also if i'm honest apart from coffee shops and 1 bank there is nothing on main st for me.

The Princess Bride

I'd much rather the Main Street than the shopping centre- in some* of the shops,the staff are friendlier and more attentive.
Also in most of the shops,especially the pharmacies,the vast majority of staff are more experienced and that's gotta count for something.

There's that feeling of the staff wanting your custom,whereas in the larger shops, I often get the feeling that if I fell over,they'd ask me to move swiftly on,as I'm in the way!

I'd imagine most medium sized towns,especially in the midlands,are feeling the pinch over the past 2-3 years.


*I said some-not all.

token56

Does portlaoise not have one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country? I certainly dont think thats helping as I'm sure the majority of peoples disposable income is quite low.

When you look at the what job opportunities there are in portlaoise a significant number comes from the civil service, the hospital, two prisons, the SDS, ESB etc. The next largest sector would probably be retail I'd imagine, and a significant portion of people living in portlaoise then commute to other towns for work. Its not a good situation for the town to be in but I think its more than the councils fault. Since the days of places like tretorn it's never really been put at forefront of any government plans for investment in terms of jobs despite good road and rail infrastructure and its really suffered because of that.

Genghis

Think the council need to remove paid-for parking and introduce penalties / clamping for abuse, i.e. parked longer than 3 hours. This would equalise the parking arrangements across Tesco, Dunnes, Aldi, Lidl, etc and remove the disadvantage the main street has.

I think the efforts made by main st traders like the market last weekend are excellent, but need to be repeated in some way. Maybe the street could be closed altogether during business hours at the weekend, with a farmers style or craft market set up?

I also agree with the rent point being made. I know of one premises where the business moved further up town only because the landlord was adamant rent could not be adjusted. Said premises now empty going on 12 months.

MidlandsM

Genghis wrote: »

I also agree with the rent point being made. I know of one premises where the business moved further up town only because the landlord was adamant rent could not be adjusted. Said premises now empty going on 12 months.

Good......:mad:

allibastor

its greedy council at its best. Upward only rent reviews are killing the irish town and city centers. i was talking to a lady who owned a very recently closed shop on the main street. she has said the high and upward only review has killed the business.

i agree in smaller towns where free parking is given in shopping centers should also offer free parking in the streets, i mean really , how much money would portloaise get from the 200+ spaces they have on the main road and side streets. is it better than having no trading business in operation.

i also watched the traffic warden hovering over my car one day as i went to get change for the machine. he was just waiting there to give me a ticket. i stood back for a min and waited till he was about to write the ticket then said it to him. how is things like that going to get people to want to go shopping in the town center.

Sean9015

allibastor wrote: »

its greedy council at its best. Upward only rent reviews are killing the irish town and city centers. i was talking to a lady who owned a very recently closed shop on the main street. she has said the high and upward only review has killed the business.

Errr, what have councils got to done with rent reviews? I thought that was the ambit of (private) landlords...

allibastor wrote: »

i agree in smaller towns where free parking is given in shopping centers should also offer free parking in the streets, i mean really , how much money would portloaise get from the 200+ spaces they have on the main road and side streets. is it better than having no trading business in operation.

i also watched the traffic warden hovering over my car one day as i went to get change for the machine. he was just waiting there to give me a ticket. i stood back for a min and waited till he was about to write the ticket then said it to him. how is things like that going to get people to want to go shopping in the town center.

Free parking is a double-edged sword. If it is free, car parks become used by workers, or "park and ride" commuters leaving no room for cars driven by the customers (who spend the money!). Customers therefore go elsewhere unless a time limit is enforced - which costs money the council hasn't got without parking revenue - and without a ticketing system leads to arguments and aggro on both sides. Car parking charges in Portlaoise are not, IMO, that unreasonable - especially now your first 30 minutes a day is free. What is unreasonable is that Tesco, Dunnes and Lismard have been allowed to put in a huge amount of free parking adjacent the town centre which will inevitably draw trade away from the traditional centre - look at Heatons, for example. Bad planning at its' finest.

A counter to this could be that shops in the town centre offer to refund part of the parking charge on production of the ticket stub with a purchase - maybe capped at an hour to avoid abuse - possibly with a contribution from the council in the form of a rate rebate? Any "anti-competitive" arguments from the Laois / Kyle / Lismard centres could be countered by the fact that they have been granted (by the council through the planning process) free parking facilities.

Sean

pclancy

Its not an easy place to have a business for many reasons. When I had my shop there 2003-2005 I learnt a lot about how hard it is. Yes rents are massive, in our case I think not as high as many but you're still talking a huge amount of your revenue going into rent.

Parking was also the killer for staff and customers. There was no way to get a permit so you're faced with loading up with tickets every few hours and raking up fines. Delivery drivers had nowhere to pull in with big deliveries. Customers dont want to bother paying to visit your shop. Plus the foot traffic through the area is tiny compared to what it used to be thanks to the large shopping centres.

Finally at night especially weekends the place is a warzone so it was common to open up Saturday/Sunday mornings with blood, beer, piss or even condoms in the doorway. Windows cracked or damaged at least a few times a year. Graffiti on the signage.

I wish we'd located elsewhere but hindsight is a great thing. Its certainly not an easy place to do business and receives no help from the councill or chamber of commerce at all unless you know the right people. I often seen certain business owners cars and vans not being ticketed but mine were never ignored.