Affluent areas of Cork city

monkey8

i am looking at potentially opening a high end business in cork city

i'm looking for an affluent area but also an area that is like a small town/village with plenty of other retail businesses around.

i have just started looking at locations online using google street view (going to travel down next week) but from what i can see outside of Douglas all the affluent areas like blackrock Montenotti Tivoli etc seem to be lacking that small town/village centre.
is this the case in reality (google street view is from 2010)
Any suggestions on affluent areas that have a decent retail hub outside of the big shopping centres or city centre?

TheChizler

Douglas is pretty much the only place that could be described as a town area. Opera Lane in the city centre or the South Mall might be described as high end. Mahon Point would probably be the most modern shopping centre.

What kind of business is it? Presumably you plan doing a lot more market research while you're down here?

.red.

Ballincollig would tick all the boxes.
Not many other high end shops around but its a busy town, easily commutable to/from the city and plenty of parking.

pwurple

Blackrock has a village center but it is tiny... it’s the pier area by the cafes. There are a few high end shops in the area... the interiors shop on blackrock road is hella trendy (mcGonigle walsh), and menloe stores is quite hipster. The bakery / cafe, blackrock castle restaurant.

No clothes shops if that’s what you mean though. And a lot of people in Blackrock hop on the bus into the city for retail.

Ludo

.red. wrote: »

Ballincollig would tick all the boxes.

Except for the all important "affluent" one that is :-)

Frostybrew

St Lukes would be an urban village for the Montenotte area. Not as big as Douglas which would be more of an urban town anyway.

Henry94

Douglas is the place to be. The people there spend money unlike Bishopstown for example which has few restaurants and no decent bars.

boardsuser1

.red. wrote: »

Ballincollig would tick all the boxes.
Not many other high end shops around but its a busy town, easily commutable to/from the city and plenty of parking.

Soon to be part of the city itself.

run_Forrest_run

Ludo wrote: »

Except for the all important "affluent" one that is :-)

:D:D

goochy

business type ? plenty of empty units in douglas - pity wetherspoons didn't get go ahead

.red.

Ludo wrote: »

Except for the all important "affluent" one that is :-)

You'd be surprised...
The road behind mc donalds, running parallel to the main street is full of offices. Plenty of money in there.
Its also got lots of units behind the shopping centre which has more parking than any fancy shop will ever need!

pwurple

OP, have you any experience doing this, and where are you from?

I would imagine a decent business plan would be based on an in depth knowledge of a local market. With small boutique enterprises, the customers tend to be people the owner has built a relationship with in advance.

Your older posts have idea's for opening an optician franhcise, a GP office, a dental office and seem to indicate that you live in Dublin.

partyguinness

You are best staying on the south side generally.

Again, we need know what type of business. Shop? Services? Restaurant?

partyguinness

.red. wrote: »

You'd be surprised...
The road behind mc donalds, running parallel to the main street is full of offices. Plenty of money in there.
Its also got lots of units behind the shopping centre which has more parking than any fancy shop will ever need!

I think the OP may looking more at old money in a well established suburb rather than the commuter belt with youngish couples mortgaged up to their eyeballs.

monkey8

pwurple wrote: »

OP, have you any experience doing this, and where are you from?

I would imagine a decent business plan would be based on an in depth knowledge of a local market. With small boutique enterprises, the customers tend to be people the owner has built a relationship with in advance.

Your older posts have idea's for opening an optician franhcise, a GP office, a dental office and seem to indicate that you live in Dublin.

thanks for all the helpful posts so far.
i'm an optician and looking to open a high end optician business.
i will be moving to cork soon.

timmyjimmy

St. Lukes might tick the boxes, that's where I live myself. It's got a lovely village hub with some bars/wine bar. It's a 10min walk to the city centre so plenty of retail businesses nearby. It is most certainly affluent in areas with a few colourful characters around, as well being on the northside

partyguinness

monkey8 wrote: »

thanks for all the helpful posts so far.
i'm an optician and looking to open a high end optician business.
i will be moving to cork soon.

TBH and I do mean this in the nicest most constructive way, I think you may be a tad unrealistic. I work in a services industry and I provide advice to all sorts of business including opticians.

I'm afraid the idea of a high end optician is a little pie in the sky IMO. Unfortunately, the likes of Boots and Specsavers etc have reduced the industry down to being no different to popping out to buy milk in the local shop and if you do not have any other services e.g. pharmacy attached you may struggle.

I have to ask: what is different about a 'high end' optician than say the a non-high end opticians? and you have to ask...does Joe Public really care?

Roger Hassenforder

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

Soon to be part of the city itself.

Sssscccchhhhhhhh

monkey8

partyguinness wrote: »

I'm afraid the idea of a high end optician is a little pie in the sky IMO. Unfortunately, the likes of Boots and Specsavers etc have reduced the industry down to being no different to popping out to buy milk in the local shop

i know you didnt mean to be condesending and post had helpful intentions but its certainly not pie in the sky.
boots are not in optics in ireland and the premise is the opposite of specsavers, big name designer frame which they dont do and top of the range lenses which they dont do but do sell well in affluent areas.
Such shops are present and doing very well in Dalkey, Blackrock and such areas in Dublin so im
going to do some research to see if such areas exist in Cork.

Ludo

The opticians in Douglas Village shopping centre seems to have closed down in the last few weeks...gap in the market there ..or maybe there just isn't the market with the other 2 or 3 opticians already in Douglas.

Zico !

Avoid the northside ,togher, mahon,cobh and ballypheane

BionicRasher

Zico ! wrote: »

Avoid the northside ,togher, mahon,cobh and ballypheane

Cobh is not Cork city - it's 30 mins drive from the city centre 15+ miles. It's a satellite town
Douglas is probably the best non city centre spot but not sure a high end opticians is going to be a runner.
Cork has not really got the population to have the same set up as Dublin.
There are some decent old style opticians in the city and some small opticians dotted around the suburbs all of which are far from cheap!

walsh08

Like many before me have stated,it has to be Douglas.
Large affluent suburb close to town and plenty of parking.

Anywhere else will pale in comparison.

monkey8

monkey8 wrote: »

thanks for all the helpful posts so far.
i'm an optician and looking to open a high end optician business.
i will be moving to cork soon.

City centre is the obvious option, Cork is tiny. More folk will head into town to experience "a high end optician business" than will go to Douglas for same. I doubt Cork is short of opticians though and I'm sure many of the existing ones offer great service etc and stock/can get high end stuff.
I reckon you'll have to broaden your customer base to the normal Joe Soap too.

walsh08 wrote: »

Like many before me have stated,it has to be Douglas.
Large affluent suburb close to town and plenty of parking.

Anywhere else will pale in comparison.

Douglas has as many scobes as affluent folk.

D'Agger

All the best OP but I'm gutted, thought we were getting our first high end Doughnut place

Sephiroth_dude

monkey8 wrote: »

i am looking at potentially opening a high end business in cork city

i'm looking for an affluent area but also an area that is like a small town/village with plenty of other retail businesses around.

i have just started looking at locations online using google street view (going to travel down next week) but from what i can see outside of Douglas all the affluent areas like blackrock Montenotti Tivoli etc seem to be lacking that small town/village centre.
is this the case in reality (google street view is from 2010)
Any suggestions on affluent areas that have a decent retail hub outside of the big shopping centres or city centre?

Ballincollig shopping center maybe?

partyguinness

BionicRasher wrote: »

Cobh is not Cork city - it's 30 mins drive from the city centre 15+ miles. It's a satellite town
Douglas is probably the best non city centre spot but not sure a high end opticians is going to be a runner.
Cork has not really got the population to have the same set up as Dublin.
There are some decent old style opticians in the city and some small opticians dotted around the suburbs all of which are far from cheap!

True- Cobh is nowhere near Cork City Center but stay away.

It is very grim.

timmyjimmy

Douglas is probably the best option for what you're looking for and this is coming from a northsider, it is a bit soulless do. Egan's in town is where I go, wouldn't go near specsavers or the like again. I'm not sure what you're offering but these guys are well established and serious competition.

pwurple

Yeah, I think Douglas is pretty souless as well, and I'm a southsider.

I can't think of a single "high end" shop there. It's a couple of supermarkets and mcdonalds. Even the pubs are samey-mc-same.

In terms of high end opticians, it's effectively an elderly market as well, as anyone younger than 50 will be laser zapped I imagine. I am trying to think of anyone in my family or peers who still wear glasses, can't think of any.
Douglas is not great for public transport and accessibility. City center or blackrock would be the bigger catchments for your elderly monied crowd.

whisky_galore

timmyjimmy wrote: »

wouldn't go near specsavers or the like again.

Why?

BionicRasher

partyguinness wrote: »

True- Cobh is nowhere near Cork City Center but stay away.

It is very grim.

Thanks for your well informed input on Cobh but it is far from grim and has a good lot of very affluent people living in the area especially in the older age bracket. This is way off topic anyway
Cobh already has an optician and it doesn't have the population to have 2 never mind a high end optician.

Midleton is probably the most affluent town/townland in East Cork and Kinsale the most affluent town within 30 mins of the city but the OP is looking for city centre

CHealy

BionicRasher wrote: »

Midleton is probably the most affluent town/townland in East Cork and Kinsale the most affluent town within 30 mins of the city but the OP is looking for city centre

Bit of a stretch to say Midleton is anything close to affluent, I worked there for three years when I was younger and its just a bog standard small Irish town with one main street, very rural for somewhere so close to the city. Dont think East or North Cork is too blessed with affluent areas to be honest.

BionicRasher

CHealy wrote: »

Bit of a stretch to say Midleton is anything close to affluent, I worked there for three years when I was younger and its just a bog standard small Irish town with one main street, very rural for somewhere so close to the city. Dont think East or North Cork is too blessed with affluent areas to be honest.

You would be surprised
I went to school in Midleton and lived there for 3 years also.
There is a lot of very rich people in the area - lots of people with a lot of land and big farms in the hinterland - they all use Midleton as their 'hometown'
I know quiet a few very wealthy people from the area - the don't necessarily live in the town but they live in surrounding areas

brevity

Blackrock, Douglas, Ballintemple are the areas you need to look at imo.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

https://maps.pobal.ie/WebApps/DeprivationIndices/index.html

Visit the link above, zoom in on the area you want to view, then select Pobal Deprivation from the menu on the right and then 2016 by small area to view the relative levels of deprivation/affluence. Its an interesting exercise, if nothing else!

CHealy

BionicRasher wrote: »

You would be surprised
I went to school in Midleton and lived there for 3 years also.
There is a lot of very rich people in the area - lots of people with a lot of land and big farms in the hinterland - they all use Midleton as their 'hometown'
I know quiet a few very wealthy people from the area - the don't necessarily live in the town but they live in surrounding areas

True but I dont think having a few wealthy people in and around the same area equates to being an affluent area. The culture and characteristics of an area have almost as much to do with an area being affluent as the wealth of its people. Midleton might have as many millionaires as Douglas but in reality the two places are worlds apart.

SeanSouth

Parts of Douglas are affluent and historically it was very affluent but by in large today its just another Ballincollig where the locals cullinary delight is KCs chipper !! Having said all that Douglas is still a good bet for a business, it has a very dense network of housing, just not affluent.

the beer revolu

CHealy wrote: »

Midleton might have as many millionaires as Douglas but in reality the two places are worlds apart.

You're right. Middleton has a few really good restaurants and, I'm told, some good pubs.

kub

SeanSouth wrote: »

Parts of Douglas are affluent and historically it was very affluent but by in large today its just another Ballincollig where the locals cullinary delight is JCs chipper !! Having said all that Douglas is still a good bet for a business, it has a very dense network of housing, just not affluent.

The name you gave to this 'chipper' sums up your entire post

snotboogie

SeanSouth wrote: »

Parts of Douglas are affluent and historically it was very affluent but by in large today its just another Ballincollig where the locals cullinary delight is JCs chipper !! Having said all that Douglas is still a good bet for a business, it has a very dense network of housing, just not affluent.

To be fair Douglas has the number two ranked restaurant overall in Corks TripAdvisor. It also has by a mile the best Thai food in the city in Golden Elephant. There are another five to ten decent sit down restaurants, depending on your taste. It's not exactly Paris but it has comfortably the best choice of food of any Cork suburb

Sephiroth_dude

Blackpool or Ballincollig I think would suit you best, Blackpool is very near the city.

SeanSouth

Douglas may have a few nice restaurants but make no mistake the long long queues on Friday and Saturday night are outside the chipper not the four star eateries. Reminds me of the dole queues from the 1980s

Roger Hassenforder

kub wrote: »

The name you gave to this 'chipper' sums up your entire post

oooooo

WoolyJumper

Bit of a wild card but Glanmire might be worth looking at. It's a bit of a mix but there is some very affluent areas in Glanmire. As well as being located to next Glounthane (very affluent area) and near the city. It has it's own shopping centre. The place is growing a lot lately with new supermarkets opening up and new a restaurant (Eco's) and cafe opening recently. In general the place is starting to feel more and more pretentious :P It might be worth a look

rebel.ranter

Have a look at the Deprivation Index maps, it plots out all of the all fluent areas across the country including Cork city & suburbs:

https://maps.pobal.ie/WebApps/DeprivationIndices/index.html

It has 2016 data, might help you choose a location or verify a location based on where your intended commercial premises will be located.

kub

SeanSouth wrote: »

Douglas may have a few nice restaurants but make no mistake the long long queues on Friday and Saturday night are outside the chipper not the four star eateries. Reminds me of the dole queues from the 1980s

A 'chipper', perhaps you are on the wrong side of the village.
If you are referring to KC's then I would encourage you to familiarise yourself with the place, here is the menu http://www.kcandco.ie/menu.html
Does that look like an average 'chipper' menu ?

Did you know that this establishment has won lots of Bridgestone food awards ?

That is why there are queues outside.

It is no a ' chipper '.

You should try it some time.

ianobrien

OP, I would not discount Bishopstown/Wilton. There is no village atmosphere but try to look as close to Wilton shopping centre.

Personally, I think the market may be a tad saturated. Getting around the southside of Cork is relatively quick due to the south link and for my glasses, I use an opticians in Carragaline due to their knowledge and service (passing Bishopstown and Douglas) and the last time I spent over €400 on my last pair of glasses. There are plenty of good opticians around Cork that cater for the ordinary and the big spenders.

Edit - Can you do without the social welfare customers and the "ordinary" punters?

SeanSouth

@ KUB, yes ive been in it, First time 30 years ago, last time two weeks ago. Trust me, its a chipper..........I like Douglas as i do Ballincollig and Mayfield.
Lots of chippers in all these places:D

BeansBeans

CHealy wrote: »

Bit of a stretch to say Midleton is anything close to affluent, I worked there for three years when I was younger and its just a bog standard small Irish town with one main street, very rural for somewhere so close to the city. Dont think East or North Cork is too blessed with affluent areas to be honest.

Every time I'm in Castlemartyr I stumble into multiple Maseratis for some reason. I've only seen two regularly on the south side

timmyjimmy

whisky_galore wrote: »

Why?

Simply far better quality and service in Egan's.

whisky_galore

kub wrote: »

A 'chipper', perhaps you are on the wrong side of the village.
If you are referring to KC's then I would encourage you to familiarise yourself with the place, here is the menu http://www.kcandco.ie/menu.html
Does that look like an average 'chipper' menu ?

Did you know that this establishment has won lots of Bridgestone food awards ?

That is why there are queues outside.

It is no a ' chipper '.

You should try it some time.

It does chips and burgers, fast food, therefore it's a chipper.

It's a very good chipper that's won awards, but that's all it is.

What would you call it?