Dunnes (UK) more or less gone

GM228

So Dunnes Stores closed one of it's last two remaining stores in England yesterday leaving just one store in Northampton open.

A few years ago they had 11 stores in England and Scotland and plans for 40 more stores, 10 have closed in the space of 6 months.

What went wrong for them in the UK, Brexit has been mentioned, but is that a viable reason?

https://www.google.ie/amp/s/amp.independent.ie/business/brexit/dunnes-takes-flight-from-british-market-as-brexit-costs-bite-36716476.html

For Forks Sake

Their competitors in the UK market - Tesco, Sainsburys, ASDA would all be far more efficient in terms of scale. And you have the German discounters at play there as well.

Dunnes are a horrible company from the top down, their level of market share here is a mystery to me.

Hande hoche!

Their voucher system seems to be effective enough in encouraging repeat business.

Graces7

I enjoy Dunne's fr various things. The assistants in Killarney were great and I got to know some of them well.

Somehow it is a more Irish shop than the others

Just some lines are good and yes, the vouchr scheme.

kneemos

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Their competitors in the UK market - Tesco, Sainsburys, ASDA would all be far more efficient in terms of scale. And you have the German discounters at play there as well.

Dunnes are a horrible company from the top down, their level of market share here is a mystery to me.

Probably due to their vast number of stores in prime locations.
Shoite range of products though and still handing out coppers.

For Forks Sake

kneemos wrote: »

P
Shoite range of products though and still handing out coppers.

And store layouts still resembling 1990.

And selling a plank for €60

OldMrBrennan83

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For Forks Sake

Patww79 wrote: »

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No, there's one down the road in Craigavon.

OldMrBrennan83

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razorblunt

They’re still open in Glasgow i thought.

Harry Palmr

They never really tried that hard, with a population of over 60 million you either go big at huge expense or you pick a region and populate that with fewer outlets. They should have gone for Merseyside, with it's big ethnic Irish population the marketing job would be half as hard as many other parts of the UK where you'd basically have to start with a blank sheet. Also the "big shop" seems to have become a thing of the past very quickly.

Irish Guitarist

They have very little in the way of decent food and they sell cheap clothes (as in cheaply made) that are way overpriced. It's baffling that they can still do business in Ireland let alone Britain.

nice_guy80

I'm still boycotting them over the apartheid thing

kneemos

nice_guy80 wrote: »

I'm still boycotting them over the apartheid thing

Not selling the Banana's?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

kneemos wrote: »

Not selling the Banana's?

No, selling the Oranges.

OldMrBrennan83

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Muahahaha

Hande hoche! wrote: »

Their voucher system seems to be effective enough in encouraging repeat business.

It does seem to work for them. That said I can never understand why people get hooked on the idea of vouchers. If Dunnes are offering 10 euro off a 50 euro spend it simply means that they rose their price 20% in order to fund the voucher scheme. It is not like the head of marketing is some dunce who is just giving you 20% off, you are paying for it in the higher prices.

testicles

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kneemos

Muahahaha wrote: »

It does seem to work for them. That said I can never understand why people get hooked on the idea of vouchers. If Dunnes are offering 10 euro off a 50 euro spend it simply means that they rose their price 20% in order to fund the voucher scheme. It is not like the head of marketing is some dunce who is just giving you 20% off, you are paying for it in the higher prices.

The folk that don't buy enough to qualify are most likely the ones paying for it.

uck51js9zml2yt

I haven't shopped there for years.
Discount stores and the local butcher do just fine.

tretorn

Dunnes In Cornelscourt is a great store and I think the Swords branch is being revamped too.

You cant get parking in Cornelscourt no matter what time you go, I would hate to see Dunnes put out of business by Tesco, or the German Discounters.

Losty Dublin

Marcos Tall Tendinitis wrote: »

No, selling the Oranges.

No Oranges wouldn't go down too well in Portydown, no wonder they closed.

Yer Da sells Avon

tretorn wrote: »

You cant get parking in Cornelscourt no matter what time you go

I find that evenings are fine for parking at Cornelscourt, but I rarely shop there now because I don't like how they've turned the grocery department into a weird maze.

Nekarsulm

Are they still in Enniskillen? They had a pretty big store in the town centre on the site of the old Mart.

rossie1977

UK grocery market is very volatile too. M&S, Tesco and Sainsbury have all experienced major financial issues over the past decade and they are obviously far bigger companies with stronger market share in the UK than Dunnes.

Tom Mann Centuria

The last remaining UK Dunnes, the one in Northampton, has always been clothes and household. They don't sell any food, it's right next door to a fairly big Morrisons and Morrisons Garage, so they are in a pretty good spot there.

georgina toadbum

The only reason I go to my local Dunnes is to try and keep it from closing down so the staff don't lose their jobs. They are possibly the friendliest staff I've come across despite working in horrible conditions. I can see it failing here too because their prices, even on their own brand stuff, just aren't competitive enough.

Bob Harris

Dunnes has the largest share of the Irish grocery market just ahead of Super Valu and Tesco and has been gaining share over the last few years so it can't be doing that badly.

munchkin_utd

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

The last remaining UK Dunnes, the one in Northampton, has always been clothes and household. They don't sell any food, it's right next door to a fairly big Morrisons and Morrisons Garage, so they are in a pretty good spot there.

wrong, theres still 11 stores in Dunnes Stores UK (registered as Dunnes Stores Bangor) all over the north.

CeilingFly

GM228 wrote: »

So Dunnes Stores closed one of it's last two remaining stores in England yesterday leaving just one store in Northampton open.

A few years ago they had 11 stores in England and Scotland and plans for 40 more stores, 10 have closed in the space of 6 months.

What went wrong for them in the UK, Brexit has been mentioned, but is that a viable reason?

UK retail is in the doldrums. Stores closing left right and centre. Far too many retail stores for the population and online retailing in the UK is higher than most other countries

Their UK stores were primarily in working class areas and were like the dunnes stores that were here about 15-20 years ago with no real defined market and probably on the lower end whereas in recent years here, it has most definitely moved into the middle market.

The choice was to do up the stores and scale up the business in a declining market that has substantial competition in the market segment they were moving to (waitrose, M&S), or pull out.

Basic business sense prevailed and they have pulled out. - And took the £250m profit they built up with them.

CeilingFly

Hapax Legomenon wrote: »

I find that evenings are fine for parking at Cornelscourt, but I rarely shop there now because I don't like how they've turned the grocery department into a weird maze.

There have been thousands of new customers to replace you

Within the trade, it is estimated that the turnover in cornelscout has increased almost 20% since their makeover - that's a huge increase.

Oasis1974

Bob Harris wrote: »

Dunnes has the largest share of the Irish grocery market just ahead of Super Valu and Tesco and has been gaining share over the last few years so it can't be doing that badly.

This. Dunne's are preforming really well in Ireland which is what matters in the end. Who gives a toss about stores closing in the UK? If there share in the grocery market is that good with all the competition then fair play to them.

muckbrien

Can't see them lasting myself

I don't understand the brand or what they stand for

Graces7

georgina toadbum wrote: »

The only reason I go to my local Dunnes is to try and keep it from closing down so the staff don't lose their jobs. They are possibly the friendliest staff I've come across despite working in horrible conditions. I can see it failing here too because their prices, even on their own brand stuff, just aren't competitive enough.

Yes I agree re the staff. I find their prices on own brand too, much the same as elsewhere. Their cooked chickens are excellent value, especially compared with tesco

Kermit.de.frog

Don't particularly like them but Dunnes are also an Irish company.

Don't know about anyone else but i'd hate to see our shopping streets turn in to total British high streets which is the way things are going here.

May as well be in Sheffield walking around a lot of Dublin today.

That's the market and fair enough but it's a bit sad too.

ednwireland

I buy dunnes chinos for work, wear them out throw em away

Mr.H

muckbrien wrote:

I don't understand the brand or what they stand for

Better value better quality....... I mean it's in their song

Brexit

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Don't particularly like them but Dunnes are also an Irish company.

Don't know about anyone else but i'd hate to see our shopping streets turn in to total British high streets which is the way things are going here.

May as well be in Sheffield walking around a lot of Dublin today.

That's the market and fair enough but it's a bit sad too.

100% agree. Even see it in smaller regional towns like Athlone. A new shopping centre opened here around ten years ago and nearly all of the shops are British or foreign chains of some sort, apart from Easons, a jewelers, a chemist and a couple of cafés. A lot of the indigenous businesses have been killed off and other streets are dying a death because of it.

As you say, that's the market, always bothers me on some level though.

Mint Sauce

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Are they still in Enniskillen? They had a pretty big store in the town centre on the site of the old Mart.

They are, seems quite modern as well. From the outside anyway, never stepped inside it as far as I can remember.