Gerry’s Fresh Foods Bryanstown

furiousox

Looks like Staffords shop at Bryanstown is gone.
Shutters are down today and there is a notice saying they have ceased trading.
It's a shame for everyone who works there, always thought that place seemed busy.

Lister1

Wow, really surprised if this is the case as the place was always busy....

Lord TSC

Awh. Pretty much a daily visit for me
Surprised. I would have thought with the school there and the estates, they would be doing ok.

Hearing that people who collect benefits from he post office have to go to Ballsgrove.

Mr. Muddle

Really sorry to hear this, really nice staff in that shop.

One problem I noticed is that loads of parents from the school next door would park at staffords some staying from the time the juniors finish to the time the whole school finishes, I'm sure this would put shoppers off going to the shop at lunchtimes and the school traffic in the mornings may have been a factor too.

borderlinemeath

Ah no, I love that shop. It does always seem to be busy enough, but I suppose it all depends on overheads.

gipi

I was only in there on Saturday, couldn't believe it when I heard this morning.

Where will I get my fix of homemade rocky road now?!!

borderlinemeath

Just on the post office, I told my neighbour today and he was really upset. He's 70 and as it is he walks a kilometre to the end of the road to get the bus to Bryanstown to collect his pension, he doesn't know how he's going to get up the hill to Ballsgrove from the bus station, he's had a couple of heart ops in the past 10 years and isn't able for the exertion. .

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

borderlinemeath wrote: »

Just on the post office, I told my neighbour today and he was really upset. He's 70 and as it is he walks a kilometre to the end of the road to get the bus to Bryanstown to collect his pension, he doesn't know how he's going to get up the hill to Ballsgrove from the bus station, he's had a couple of heart ops in the past 10 years and isn't able for the exertion. .

He might be able to switch his payment to the PO on West st.

borderlinemeath

Duracell Bunny wrote: »

He might be able to switch his payment to the PO on West st.

He'll probably have to for the time being, although he's hopeful that a Dublin Rd local office will reopen somewhere.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

borderlinemeath wrote: »

He'll probably have to for the time being, although he's hopeful that a Dublin Rd local office will reopen somewhere.

What's the old black bull newsagents unit being used as now? Drive past every day and wouldn't even glance at it!

And the walk to West st wouldn't be as tough, he could even go through the town centre and use the lift.

borderlinemeath

Duracell Bunny wrote: »

What's the old black bull newsagents unit being used as now? Drive past every day and wouldn't even glance at it!

And the walk to West st wouldn't be as tough, he could even go through the town centre and use the lift.

It's a Mace, but it has nowhere near the choice that staffords had, it does for the basics .

working fool

That's a shame
The staff there where really nice and friendly .
It was madness around school time
And the ATM would be chock a block

borderlinemeath

working fool wrote: »

That's a shame
The staff there where really nice and friendly .
It was madness around school time
And the ATM would be chock a block

I posted about this problem a year ago in a different thread, giving out about the car park being used as an overflow. It's very annoying, and it would make me choose not to visit the shop at school out time over it, I'd just go elsewhere. And it's not like the school doesn't have a car park, but the lollipop jobsworths probably make it hell to get in and out.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=82581339

Lord TSC

Just went by now. Quite sad to see the awards stacked against the closed grate

Did notice though that despite it being closed, the car park was still 90% full

gipi

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

Just went by now. Quite sad to see the awards stacked against the closed grate

Did notice though that despite it being closed, the car park was still 90% full

Think that carpark is used by train commuters.

drogdub

borderlinemeath wrote: »

I posted about this problem a year ago in a different thread, giving out about the car park being used as an overflow. It's very annoying, and it would make me choose not to visit the shop at school out time over it, I'd just go elsewhere. And it's not like the school doesn't have a car park, but the lollipop jobsworths probably make it hell to get in and out.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=82581339

Sad to see it go, the staff where friendly and good at they're jobs.

By the way "the lollipop jobsworths" (whatever that means) are there to keep the kids safe and if they did make it hell to get out, which they don't, then its tough

borderlinemeath

drogdub wrote: »

Sad to see it go, the staff where friendly and good at they're jobs.

By the way "the lollipop jobsworths" (whatever that means) are there to keep the kids safe and if they did make it hell to get out, which they don't, then its tough

When I was a kid I went to school on a road far, far busier than Bryanstown. We didn't have one lollipop person for 3 large schools that were within 100 metres of each other. From memory, no child ever got knocked down or killed. We used the traffic light crossing to get across the road. We learned the safe cross code, to look each way before stepping out. Kids these days don't do this at all, as they have lollipop people who barely group 2/3 kids together and maybe let one or two cars through before stopping the traffic again. There's always a vast number of cars parked on adjacent roads, and in Staffords car park, presumably because the traffic is bad and it takes far too long to get out of the school car park. Why else would parents park all along the roads, and off the roundabout, and in staffords car park? It's further for the child to walk, so it's certainly not about safety.

lamoss

come to think of it, over the years since that development opened up, a lot of businesses have closed up. Since it opened about 10 years ago these have all gone........Indus Indian restaurant, Lemon grass Thai restaurant, Mo,s upmarket fish and chip shop, The first butchers shop that opened ( cant remember the name ) was open for a while then closed ,before the present butchers took over the shop. I think High rents is the common factor here as when the development opened it was property boom time and they were charged top Dollar rents.
Where the eastern seaboard is now, that site was for a pub originally and it was vacant for about 2 years, if I remember correctly .No one wanted that site for a pub, so I am only guessing here, that the rent was lowered a bit for that site and the seaboard opened up there.
It would not surprise me that when the Eastern seaboards rent review is due their rent could be doubled as well, and they could close up as well

gipi

Mo's takeaway was run by the folks from the Eastern Seaboard, who converted the premises into a coffee shop and bakery (brown hound). High rents might not have been the reason for the switchover, just a change in direction.

eurosceptic

A quick web search this morning found this regarding the winding-up of Staffords Fine Foods:

http://www.irisoifigiuil.ie/currentissues/Ir240114.pdf

THE HIGH COURT
RECORD NO. 2013/565 COS
IN THE MATTER OF
ORLI FINE FOODS LIMITED
AND IN THE MATTER OF
THE COMPANIES ACTS 1963-2009
Notice is hereby given that a Petition was on 9 December, 2013,
presented to the High Court by Michael Murphy and Joseph
Murphy whose place of business is at Bryanstown Centre,
Drogheda, County Louth, Creditors of the said Company, for
the winding up by the High Court of the above-named Company
in main proceedings, (in accordance with Article 3(1) of Council
Regulation (EC) No. 1346/2000). The Petition is directed to be
heard at 10.30 a.m. on 3 February, 2014. Any Creditor or
Contributory of the Company who wishes to support or oppose
the making of an Order on the Petition may appear at the time
of hearing by himself on his counsel for that purpose and a copy
of the Petition will be furnished to any Creditor or Contributory
of the said Company who requires it by the undersigned on
payment of the regulated charge for the same.
Signed: FOLEY SOLICITORS,
Solicitors for the Petitioner,
7 The Plaza,
Forster Way,
Swords,
County Dublin.
NOTE: Any person who intends to appear at the hearing of the
said Petition must serve on or send by post to the
above-named Petitioner or his Solicitor, notice in
writing of his intention to do so. The notice must state
the name and address of the person or if a firm the
name and address of the firm and must be signed by
the person or firm, or his or their Solicitor, (if any), and
must be served, or, if posted, must be sent by post in
sufficient time to reach the above named Solicitor or
the Petitioner not later than 5 o’clock in the afternoon
of Friday, 31 January, 2014.
[33

lamoss

^^^ Bloody hell, That explains everything. The business must have been struggling big time to stay afloat

lamoss

gipi wrote: »

Mo's takeaway was run by the folks from the Eastern Seaboard, who converted the premises into a coffee shop and bakery (brown hound). High rents might not have been the reason for the switchover, just a change in direction.

You are correct Gipi, my bad.

borderlinemeath

lamoss wrote: »

^^^ Bloody hell, That explains everything. The business must have been struggling big time to stay afloat

Rent
Rates
Payroll
Insurance

All these need to be paid before opening the doors every morning and taking a sale. Then there's

capital for stock (suppliers rarely give credit these days)
A payment to the Post Office. There's more chance that they were paying to have the post office in the store to drum up footfall than the post office paying them rent for the space.
Utilities
Cleaners
Maintenence
Shrinkage/Wastage (could be high, particularly in a fresh food/deli)

Yet lots of people are prepared to scream "rip off" when a convenience store is more expensive than a large supermarket, even though they cut margins to the lowest possible to try and compete. Staffords wouldn't have stood a chance against the buying might of Tesco & Dunnes, nor did it have an umbrella brand such as musgraves or bwg to keep them stocked, although even they struggle to compete with the big names.

moonshadow

More reason to support them in Laurence st.
Ill bite my tongue on the rest of what I was gonna say about the above mentioned.

Mylow

Eurosceptic, very informative first post. Any link to any of the businesses mentioned in this post?

eurosceptic

Hello Mylow. I'm not connected to any of the businesses, I'm a resident in Martello Village (the estate on the otherside of the road), was curious to try and find out what befell such a fine local shop that has been the community hub from the outset.

cournioni

I have (provisionally) deleted a number of posts in this thread due to their possibly libellous nature. If anyone has any questions regarding this please PM me.

Further posts of this nature without a link or reference to the source of such information will result in deletions and infractions.

grannymomo

All old customers should support Joe (Stafford) in his other shop, he deserves it, his staff also deserve it they were always so helpful and pleasant, I can see the butchers go next, seldom see anyone there, how they pay rent wages and other overheads beats me. The Eastern Seaboard does good business, they dont charge high prices and serve very good fesh food.

eurosceptic

It has now been some weeks since Staffords sadly closed its doors. Is there any news as to what the shop unit is to become? I would assume that it will one day re-open as a convenience store - but who will operate it...spar, centra, mace??? Will the post office be retained?

Lord TSC

So some good news.

Apparently someone new will be taking over and opening the shop, and the Post Office will be reopening there within a month

borderlinemeath

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

So some good news.

Apparently someone new will be taking over and opening the shop, and the Post Office will be reopening there within a month

Overheard today in Dunnes that it's Eurospar, the same people from Bredin St that took up the lease.

kbell

Hopefull they will rehire the Staffords staff?

drogdub

kbell wrote: »

Hopefull they will rehire the Staffords staff?

True, they would be a credit to any shop

Soodle

Does anyone know if this store and the post office has re-opened yet?

furiousox

No, still closed.

Soodle

Does anyone know when this store will be re-opening. Is there any signs it is to open soon?

clarebear82

The girls in the post office in ballsgrove said it meant to be opening up around easter. Don't know who taken over it.

mejulie805

No signs of anything happening to it yet. Everything still as it was (hand written signs, notices, etc). Never realised how much I used it!

eurosceptic

I did see a small Musgrave truck pulling away from behind Stafford's the other day....could be shelf filling????

Soodle

Thanks for this, I found out today that they are currently being refurbished so lets hope they open up in the next few weeks.

mejulie805

Oh good to know, thanks!

Lord TSC

So the word is now that whatever was happening there has fallen through and it won't be opening for the foreseeable future

Though the post office crowd are trying to get something opened up in Southgate now, which would be awesome for those of us in Grange Rath :P

eurosceptic

Quick update - some fella named Gerry from Skerries is opening up the old Stafford's shop in the very near future. No other details at this time other than he currently owns outlet(s) in Skerries.

mejulie805

Well, it is possible that there is more than 1 Gerry in Skerries, but I'd be happy presuming this is him all the same: http://www.gerrys.ie/

Lord TSC

Sadly, he's apparently told the Post Office he's not interested in having them there

Was speaking to another local retailer recently who said it's quite expensive to get them into your store, and although he'd happily get them in if he could, he couldn't justify the money nor could he get it from banks if he could.

everlast75

Spotted the shutters opened yesterday and what looked like electrical trade men inside working away!

mejulie805

We're looking at early September. Will be glad to have a trading shop back there.

http://droghedalife.com/791/86178/a/gerrys-new-fresh-foods-store-to-provide-20-jobs-and-post-office-at-bryanstown

Lord TSC

Post office back? Hooray!

everlast75

Anybody pop in or has it not opened up yet?

mejulie805

It's open, but I haven't been in yet!

furiousox

initial impressions are that it doesnt carry the same range and variety of products as staffords did. theres a bit less shelving and a bit more floorspace than before. it was day one though so the layout might not be finished yet.