Dunnes Stores in trouble

pegasus1

Dunnes Stores are in trouble re their Ferrybank S.C. Dealings.....

http://http://businessetc.thejournal.ie/court-to-hear-petition-to-wind-up-dunnes-stores-next-month-690184-Nov2012/

One shop too far??

road_high

That shopping centre is a ridiculous white elephant (one of many around the country). A small community shopping centre would have been fine but that was crazy. I don't know what the developers were thinking.
Did Dunnes do any research into the shop? Waterford is more than well served by supermarkets. Wonder what will happen it now....

pegasus1

Wonder was it to try to siphon some money from the blaa peeps...

road_high

Imagine the idea was alright to attract shoppers from across the suir and beyond. It was a v bad idea as it would have damaged already Waterford city centre shops. I guess during the boom the attitude was that these places could not be built fast enough. Very poor planning on kilkenny co councils part as centre is way too big. I dunno what they can even do with it now.

wellboytoo

It was a crazy decision, I was party to an objection to it on size alone at the time, but it was totally ignored, and yes it was a cynical grab at development charges and rates.
It is an awful pity as if it had to have been a supermarket and maybe ten convenience shops it would have been open and trading now, and the local community would have what they need.
Not only did KK county council give planning for this but also another one in Farmleigh a half a mile away which also never opened, makes one wonder would we be better off with one planning dept for the whole southeast with NO political involvement or inter county rivalry so this type of horrendous decision will never be visited on a community again.

road_high

wellboytoo wrote: »

It was a crazy decision, I was party to an objection to it on size alone at the time, but it was totally ignored, and yes it was a cynical grab at development charges and rates.
It is an awful pity as if it had to have been a supermarket and maybe ten convenience shops it would have been open and trading now, and the local community would have what they need.
Not only did KK county council give planning for this but also another one in Farmleigh a half a mile away which also never opened, makes one wonder would we be better off with one planning dept for the whole southeast with NO political involvement or inter county rivalry so this type of horrendous decision will never be visited on a community again.

That was more than enough for an area of 5000 people approx. I'd be fuming if this happened in Kilkenny city so I can see where Waterford businesses are coming from.
The developers surely have to shoulder blame as well. What kind of business model were they using if any. There isn't/wasn't the population to support this but yet they ploughed on recklessly in the belief Dunnes would move in and others would all follow. I drove by it the other day and was we were saying in the car what an appalling white elephant it is. This fine modern building blonked where it shouldn't be and completely empty...bar some waste of money library. There's an Aldi just across the road so it's not like there was no shops there at all.

PS Agree on the planning authority. County councils arfe just shockingly inefficient and dare I say corrupt.

wellboytoo

Agreed an appalling decision, I have predicted from day one we will see a good portion of it being demolished in my lifetime, You probably know the developer bearded gentleman who had his offices on the Waterford road just up from the Garage, first name Derry.

road_high

wellboytoo wrote: »

Agreed an appalling decision, I have predicted from day one we will see a good portion of it being demolished in my lifetime, You probably know the developer bearded gentleman who had his offices on the Waterford road just up from the Garage, first name Derry.

Can't say I do now, didn't even know it was local co built this thing.You'd think if they were local they'd have seen how ridiculous their plan was... Hard to see what other uses it could be put to? Would be pretty hard to convert to other uses I'd say, without huge investment. It's not even in a good location say city centre for a hotel, conference centre or anything...actually the conference centre is probably not too bad an option as it would take it lots of space. Though the designand shapre are probably all wrong. The developers were nuts to proceed with this as were the council for granting planning.

pegasus1

Just had a look on images of the place online....did they think that Waterford is the size of Belfast..

Future university campus?

van_beano

I've never seen the place so can't comment.

However there is no way in the world that solvent Dunnes will be wound up with the loss of 18,000 jobs. Media just scaremongering. Although I'll be interested to see what the Court Judgement will be, NAMA will have to come to their senses with this one!

catbear

Dunnes are not renowned for paying their creditors on time, they could have just let it get this far hoping that it would go away. They'll pay the fee.

galwaykev

I think they will be wound up. And in the near future dunnes will be no more. "Most" of the shops will remain open, although they will have a different name over the door. From 2006-2009 dunnes redeveloped and opened a massive amount of stores on the out skirts of towns. And this was done at a premium. Their debt must be very high.
In Galway alone they have 6 (i think) large stores. I am always amazed how quiet these are when I am in them.

If Dunnes are wound up it does not mean all the jobs will be lost. I guess the employees with have different employers soon........Just my thoughts.

Leroy42

Whether the centre is crazy or not is not the issue regarding Dunnes. The courts have already ruled that Dunnes owe this money. More than likely, Dunnes entered into a contract and then on reviewing the situation came to the same conclusion that many on this thread are saying regarding the viability of the centre and probably tried to get out of it. Nama getting the laon meant that instead of dealing with a soon to be insolvent developer (one which they held the balance of power) they are now faced with Nama (and thus Nama hold the power).

The only ones who can make Dunnes windup is Dunnes. Seems to me, although its clear it was a bad decision, Dunnes made a contract and now have to pay.