NewsWorld Superquinn S.C.

danjo-xx

Looks like it's closing down, they had all the shelves stripped and stuff in boxes on the ground. The door was open and there was staff there this afternoon, seemed to be packing stuff away.

The cards end of the shop has yet to be stripped.

Dicky Pride

There should probably be a "Closing Down" thread because this is the first of many...

Dum_Dum

It's not even 2013 yet!

SUNGOD

I'm sorry they are closing down but I found the two main saleswomen to be ignorant and whenever I went they never had a smile or a thank you.
Now before someone says then don't go in then, I went in and used that shop when it suited me but always felt that the customer care left a lot to desirel.

Jason Todd

SUNGOD wrote: »

I'm sorry they are closing down but I found the two main saleswomen to be ignorant and whenever I went they never had a smile or a thank you.
Now before someone says then don't go in then, I went in and used that shop when it suited me but always felt that the customer care left a lot to desirel.

Have to agree with you there, the shop had a great selection of magazines and the gift range was great, but the two women either ignored you to the point of rudeness or watched you like you were going to rob the place. Still though, shame to see another place closing.

mike65

I was in there about 3 weeks ago and noticed that there were a lot of gaps on the shelves. Does SuperQuinn sell papers magazines? Given the through put of traffic Newsworld should be able to keep its head above water I'd have thought.

Agree about the staff. You never felt that welcome!

wobbles

Used it the odd time to get magazines instead of going into town. Where else now outside of the city center has a good selection of magazines?

Wanderer2010

Sad to see this place go, I used to buy a lot of magazines here on way to and from college, I only really had issue with one sour faced staff member, I found the rest fine. I dont think they did the lotto that was a disadvantage considering the amount of people coming from the chemists next door..hope they find alternative employment.

sandin

Dicky Pride wrote: »

There should probably be a "Closing Down" thread because this is the first of many...

In general, retailers have had a great Christmas. Wintervall in particular gave the city a great lift. Can't really see many casualties coming - news world was just very poorly run. Dreadful staff who never gave a toss and customers reacted by shopping elsewhere where they were appreciated.

decies

Would find that hard to believe that retailers had a great Christmas in Waterford Winterval or not Winterval . Would really like to see hard evidence for that . Money is very scarce in this city I would be suprised if there were not major casualties before the summer , time will tell on that one .

south

I hear InHouse on the six cross roads has also closed its doors

b0ardsUser

I have found the people working in that shop were horrid and rude. I went down to Superquinn yesterday looking for some Blank discs, Superquinn used to have loads of that kind of stuff but I couldn't see. I thought I would chance my arm and check out the news-agent, was sorry to see they are closing but the workers in there are extremely rude!

wellboy76

south wrote: »

I hear InHouse on the six cross roads has also closed its doors

Also true unfortunately. Business transferred to Cork! Heard that before

spankmemunkey

sandin wrote: »

In general, retailers have had a great Christmas. Wintervall in particular gave the city a great lift. Can't really see many casualties coming - news world was just very poorly run. Dreadful staff who never gave a toss and customers reacted by shopping elsewhere where they were appreciated.

Have to strongly disagree with you on this one, I reckon this was the last big spending splurge for people before the purse strings close, I think everybody was sick to the back teeth of all the doom and gloom and taking a kicking from the government and thought lets enjoy this christmas, so that may have been good but from there on where do you see the spending coming from, I reckon it will contract again as people will be keepin hold of their money now with all the new charges coming in property tax etc etc, Childrens allowance is now also down and all the changes are coming into effect, I think youll see alot more shops close, I do hope its not the case though.

On the shop that closed, I think the staff were sour but ye never know they could have had something bad going on in their life and found it hard to lift their spirits, I also noticed that but i also smiled and was polite to them and they were nice enough, We dont know whats going on in peoples lives that make them the way they are.

The shop seemed too big for the type of business they had, They would be better suited to the shop either side of the entrance to superquinn, lets face it their main business was papers and fags and a few sweets, the floor space seemed too big for that, They also lost the lotto which meant they were losing out on customers. sad to see another shop close.

sandin

spankmemunkey wrote: »

Have to strongly disagree with you on this one, I reckon this was the last big spending splurge for people before the purse strings close, I think everybody was sick to the back teeth of all the doom and gloom and taking a kicking from the government and thought lets enjoy this christmas, so that may have been good but from there on where do you see the spending coming from, I reckon it will contract again as people will be keepin hold of their money now with all the new charges coming in property tax etc etc, Childrens allowance is now also down and all the changes are coming into effect, I think youll see alot more shops close, I do hope its not the case though.

On the shop that closed, I think the staff were sour but ye never know they could have had something bad going on in their life and found it hard to lift their spirits, I also noticed that but i also smiled and was polite to them and they were nice enough, We dont know whats going on in peoples lives that make them the way they are.

The shop seemed too big for the type of business they had, They would be better suited to the shop either side of the entrance to superquinn, lets face it their main business was papers and fags and a few sweets, the floor space seemed too big for that, They also lost the lotto which meant they were losing out on customers. sad to see another shop close.

sorry - but I disagree. I'm involved several retail outlets in the south of the country and a member or Retail Excellence and 2 different chambers of commerce and the general consensus is retail has been better than expected in December particularly in Waterford City and Cork. Now, expectations were not very high, but costs would have been cut to meet expected sales levels, so higher than expected sales means a lot of happy retailers.

Don't forget that for many rents are down substantially as are other costs. Suppliers ahve helped with giving more offers and those who have jobs and small or no mortgages are finally confident enough to start spending again.

Remember, there are 1.9million houses in the country, just 600,000 mortages of which about 40,000 are in trouble and a further 50,000 have been renegotiated. - Its still less than 5% of households that have mortgage issues, leaving 95% of homes without mortgage or having no problem paying their mortgage.

spankmemunkey

sandin wrote: »

sorry - but I disagree. I'm involved several retail outlets in the south of the country and a member or Retail Excellence and 2 different chambers of commerce and the general consensus is retail has been better than expected in December particularly in Waterford City and Cork. Now, expectations were not very high, but costs would have been cut to meet expected sales levels, so higher than expected sales means a lot of happy retailers.

Don't forget that for many rents are down substantially as are other costs. Suppliers ahve helped with giving more offers and those who have jobs and small or no mortgages are finally confident enough to start spending again.

Remember, there are 1.9million houses in the country, just 600,000 mortages of which about 40,000 are in trouble and a further 50,000 have been renegotiated. - Its still less than 5% of households that have mortgage issues, leaving 95% of homes without mortgage or having no problem paying their mortgage.

Thers still more units closing down in waterford, thers 4 empty units in city square, not to mention these shops that pop up and close quickly.

sandin

spankmemunkey wrote: »

Thers still more units closing down in waterford, thers 4 empty units in city square, not to mention these shops that pop up and close quickly.

The empty units in city square were laready empty before christmas.

pop-up shops are the norm thoughout Europe. They open for a short season and move on. Usually the maximum is 90 days.

I'm not saying every store will remain open, but its been better that forecast and that's a good sign. - Means more jobs which leads to more spending which leads again to more jobs.

spankmemunkey

They werent closed before christmas, The island one where the photo shop was was before christmas, the two next stores are just about to close and the Early Learning Centre just shut down just before christmas, I know pop up shops are common around europe but most of them sell junk, they have a stab at it and it fails, There is also a few other crappy shops that wont be there long,

wmpdd3

afaik, tennents have been found for 2 of those stores.

spankmemunkey

wmpdd3 wrote: »

afaik, tennents have been found for 2 of those stores.

Thats good news! something tells me the rents might be a tad too high.

kuang1

sandin wrote: »

The empty units in city square were laready empty before christmas.

pop-up shops are the norm thoughout Europe. They open for a short season and move on. Usually the maximum is 90 days.

I'm not saying every store will remain open, but its been better that forecast and that's a good sign. - Means more jobs which leads to more spending which leads again to more jobs.

Yeah Sandin it was pretty clear even before you told us that you had vested interests the way you were talking things up.
I'm all for optimism but not at the expense of realism.
Waterford is on its knees (at best) and it breaks my heart coz I love this place. Saddest thing is, the bottom isn't even close yet.

For what it's worth NONE of the above stops me and mrs kuang spending a fair chunk of change in the locality on a regular basis.

So lets all try to be positive and support any local initiatives. However, taking a blinded, 'in-denial' outlook on things serves absolutely nobody anygood whatsoever.

spankmemunkey

kuang1 wrote: »

Yeah Sandin it was pretty clear even before you told us that you had vested interests the way you were talking things up.
I'm all for optimism but not at the expense of realism.
Waterford is on its knees (at best) and it breaks my heart coz I love this place. Saddest thing is, the bottom isn't even close yet.

For what it's worth NONE of the above stops me and mrs kuang spending a fair chunk of change in the locality on a regular basis.

So lets all try to be positive and support any local initiatives. However, taking a blinded, 'in-denial' outlook on things serves absolutely nobody anygood whatsoever.

Theres nine empty units in city square, actually its eight cos they removed the empty unit upstairs beside the toilets.

I'm with the previous poster, I think I remember a similar line when it was the property crash, the talk was ah it will be a soft landing, thats head in the sand stuff again,

Don't forget we have the property tax to come we have water charges to come, property prices are expected to drop by at least another 20 percent health insurance will rise by another 50 percent pushing people to drop health insurance causing another set of knock on problems altogether, female drivers will also face a hike when they next renew their car insurance and childrens allowance is also down, christmas saw a splurge as possibly the last hurray before things get worse, this may have be good for retailers but its not about a sudden change in consumer confidence more like the fancy meal for a condemned prisoner. People have to have money to spend it and then they need disposable income to spend.

sandin

kuang1 wrote: »

Yeah Sandin it was pretty clear even before you told us that you had vested interests the way you were talking things up.
I'm all for optimism but not at the expense of realism.
.

If I said what my business was then you could say I have vested interests but as I never mention my business on boards it can't be said I have vested interests. I'm in retail/wholesale for 30+ years and have been through a worse recession than this (1987 - 1992). - Back then I just failed on getting a store in Grafton street for less than 40k a year!!

2008-2010 years were dreadful. It leveled out in mid 2011 and there was growth last year. We added staff last year to all stores and we also opened new stores.

Unless a retailer/landlord has their head in the sand, they have woken up to the new reality. Rents are less than half what they were. Staff costs are down and many other costs are down particularly advertising and communications.

As I said I'm part of 2 chambers of commerce and a member or REI and the vast majority of people in these organisations who would normally look at the bad side fist say it was a good 6 months.

We won't see 2005/2006 again for a long long time (if ever) but costs in most cases now match the turnover of most stores and therefore.

Because I like to shop in Superquinn, (because of superb service) I had plenty of occasion to drop into Newsworld. In my opinion as a retailer the store was poorly displayed, uninviting and the staff looked like it was the last place they wanted to be - with so much competition for customers these days, that type of retailing is gone. A retailer MUST make the shoppers experience enjoyable and give supremely good service as the consumer demands (rightly so) to be treated as the person who at the end of the day is paying the bills.

kuang1

sandin wrote: »

If I said what my business was then you could say I have vested interests but as I never mention my business on boards it can't be said I have vested interests.

Wha??!!! There's a typo in there surely Sandin...
How do I sound here:
"If I said I was Irish then you could say I was Irish but as I never mention my Irishness it can't be said I'm Irish."
(Oh boy)

sandin wrote: »

I'm in retail/wholesale for 30+ years and have been through a worse recession than this (1987 - 1992).

IF(!) you're telling the truth here, then you're in a tiny minority. Ask your friends in the

sandin wrote: »

2 chambers of commerce

and see what they say.
It may be true for you personally, but that's where any element of truth ends in that statement.

sandin wrote: »

We added staff last year to all stores and we also opened new stores.

Genuinely pleased to hear that and good luck to you and your staff.

sandin wrote: »

We won't see 2005/2006 again for a long long time (if ever) but costs in most cases now match the turnover of most stores

Yes and people forget with all the doom and gloom that there are plenty of successful and very viable businesses thriving out there.
However, by definition the word 'most' means anything over half. So I'm positive you're right to say this, but that's not to say that it's a tiny number of businesses whose costs DO NOT match their turnover.
I wish it weren't so.

spankmemunkey

sandin wrote: »

If I said what my business was then you could say I have vested interests but as I never mention my business on boards it can't be said I have vested interests. I'm in retail/wholesale for 30+ years and have been through a worse recession than this (1987 - 1992). - Back then I just failed on getting a store in Grafton street for less than 40k a year!!

2008-2010 years were dreadful. It leveled out in mid 2011 and there was growth last year. We added staff last year to all stores and we also opened new stores.

Unless a retailer/landlord has their head in the sand, they have woken up to the new reality. Rents are less than half what they were. Staff costs are down and many other costs are down particularly advertising and communications.

As I said I'm part of 2 chambers of commerce and a member or REI and the vast majority of people in these organisations who would normally look at the bad side fist say it was a good 6 months.

We won't see 2005/2006 again for a long long time (if ever) but costs in most cases now match the turnover of most stores and therefore.

Because I like to shop in Superquinn, (because of superb service) I had plenty of occasion to drop into Newsworld. In my opinion as a retailer the store was poorly displayed, uninviting and the staff looked like it was the last place they wanted to be - with so much competition for customers these days, that type of retailing is gone. A retailer MUST make the shoppers experience enjoyable and give supremely good service as the consumer demands (rightly so) to be treated as the person who at the end of the day is paying the bills.

I think Newsworld was too big a premises for what they were delivering, basicly they could have done that in a unit half its size, Cigs, Papers and sweets were the bulk of thier sales with no lotto or scratch cards and then in the end i dont think you could buy a single stamp there, it was bound to close at that rate.

Regarding SuperQuinn, I do get what your saying about SuperQuinn but they arent what they useto be, they are still dinning out on the reputation built up by Fergal Quinn, Try Ardkeen Store

sandin

kuang1 wrote: »

IF(!) you're telling the truth here, then you're in a tiny minority. Ask your friends in the

and see what they say.
It may be true for you personally, but that's where any element of truth ends in that statement.


Genuinely pleased to hear that and good luck to you and your staff.



Yes and people forget with all the doom and gloom that there are plenty of successful and very viable businesses thriving out there.
However, by definition the word 'most' means anything over half. So I'm positive you're right to say this, but that's not to say that it's a tiny number of businesses whose costs DO NOT match their turnover.
I wish it weren't so.

Let me see

The 2 retail groups I have an involvement with (14 stores) had a good 2012 and a particularly good last quarter.

Retail Excellence Ireland produced figures saying that the 3000+ stores they have as members had in general a better than expected 2012 and a good last quarter.

Chambers Ireland say that their members had a reasonable 2012 and a good last quarter.

The CSO produced figures yesterday to say that spending was up 4%

People I know in retail (and that's quite a few I've got to know over the past 30 years) had a very good last quarter, a reasonable 2012 and what many described as an "excellent" December.

So all these groups and people and statistics are lies?

Yes there will be casualties, such as HMV who are a classic how not to deal with a recession case and others who simply are not offering consumers added value and service. They deserve to close as it is the consumer who pays the bills and that consumer has to have a good if not great experience when they go out shopping.

That's why places such as Arkeen Stores is thriving. Brilliant service, excellent products and a real interest in the customer and what he/she wants.

spankmemunkey

sandin wrote: »

Let me see

The 2 retail groups I have an involvement with (14 stores) had a good 2012 and a particularly good last quarter.

Retail Excellence Ireland produced figures saying that the 3000+ stores they have as members had in general a better than expected 2012 and a good last quarter.

Chambers Ireland say that their members had a reasonable 2012 and a good last quarter.

The CSO produced figures yesterday to say that spending was up 4%

People I know in retail (and that's quite a few I've got to know over the past 30 years) had a very good last quarter, a reasonable 2012 and what many described as an "excellent" December.

So all these groups and people and statistics are lies?

Yes there will be casualties, such as HMV who are a classic how not to deal with a recession case and others who simply are not offering consumers added value and service. They deserve to close as it is the consumer who pays the bills and that consumer has to have a good if not great experience when they go out shopping.

That's why places such as Arkeen Stores is thriving. Brilliant service, excellent products and a real interest in the customer and what he/she wants.

I know youd rather not say and i understand cos theres personal things id rather not say on here but are you involved in Grocery Retail? I think that is different than say selling TVs or selling hardware?

I do listen to what your saying as obviously you have experience in this area and a hell of alot more than me, Theres people who say i cant see it happening like us, and then theres people who say the figures say otherwise like you.

sandin

spankmemunkey wrote: »

I know youd rather not say and i understand cos theres personal things id rather not say on here but are you involved in Grocery Retail? I think that is different than say selling TVs or selling hardware?

I do listen to what your saying as obviously you have experience in this area and a hell of alot more than me, Theres people who say i cant see it happening like us, and then theres people who say the figures say otherwise like you.

Not involved in grocery at all.

But as I said, I'm a long time in business and thankfully it has turned up, albeit from a low level and it has been a sustained up tick, but again, not at any maddening pace, so don't expect a rush of new stores but at least those who are still standing have a pep in their step.

spankmemunkey

I hope your not working in HMV!:D

sandin

spankmemunkey wrote: »

I hope your not working in HMV!:D

But I would love to get my hands on it and turn it around. They have brilliant locations and great name but a dreadfully poor disnosaur type image and simply never counteracted the online market.

spankmemunkey

You mean a Dog! get it Dog! his masters voice!:D

Hopefully they will get some new thinking in and get refreshed!

kuang1

sandin wrote: »

But I would love to get my hands on it and turn it around.

Not possible surely?
Same as Xtra vision is a dead duck, its the industry itself that's dying here.
Granted everyone seems to agree that HMV was a static ostrich that refused to move with the times and did itself absolutely no favours with its non-response of the last decade or more.

Gotta love your enthusiasm for pretty much everything sandin and I'd say its the main reason you've made a success of yourself and may it never change or be changed by someone cautiously sceptical like myself!

But not a battle that would be winnable in this case.

sandin

Yes, I'm the eternal optimist. But do so understanding the negatives and counteracting them.

As its gone way off the original topic, I've opened a thread here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=82716058#post82716058 with my idea for the new HMV

and we'll see what other business boardsies think what hmv could do to survive.

thomasm

sandin wrote: »

Remember, there are 1.9million houses in the country, just 600,000 mortages of which about 40,000 are in trouble and a further 50,000 have been renegotiated. - Its still less than 5% of households that have mortgage issues, leaving 95% of homes without mortgage or having no problem paying their mortgage.

Not sure where you got the figures from but 67000 mortgages are 6 months in arrears at the end of last year out of 760k residential mortgages

http://www.centralbank.ie/press-area/press-releases/Pages/MortgageArrearsandRepossessionStatisticsQ32012.aspx

stefan idiot jones

sandin wrote: »

Remember, there are 1.9million houses in the country, just 600,000 mortages of which about 40,000 are in trouble and a further 50,000 have been renegotiated. - Its still less than 5% of households that have mortgage issues, leaving 95% of homes without mortgage or having no problem paying their mortgage.

95% of homes mortgage free, plenty of cash ? Whats all this recession fuss all about ? Lets ignore the poor 5% and party like its 2005 !
FFS.

sandin

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

95% of homes mortgage free, plenty of cash ? Whats all this recession fuss all about ? Lets ignore the poor 5% and party like its 2005 !
FFS.

go to specsavers, get tested and then re-read the post.

95% of homeowners are mortgage free OR have no issue paying their mortgage.


and I never said ignore the 5%.