Where will we be in 3 years

c.p.w.g.w

Banking:
So yesterday we had the news of BOI to cut 1,400 jobs yesterday...

Over the last number of year’s we have seen a shrinking of numbers employed with the retail banking sector. Cutting of Branches, along with increased use of self service(Lodgement's & Withdrawals). We have also seen some branches go completely cashless, although some of those decisions have been rowed back...

Retail:Clothing:
In the midst of the CoVid19 crisis we saw Oasis(250 Jobs), Zara(2,000 Jobs) & Debenhams(2,000 Jobs) have all closed down this year...

The above retailers seem overly reliant on quick, large turnover of stock...In what is now called fast fashion, clothing made for as cheap as possible sold at varying degrees of mark up...But ultimately not going to be worn for very long

Finding well made clothing can be difficult, the price doesn't even guarantee quality

Supermarkets/Under One Roof
There was a rush to get everything under 1 roof some time back enable folks to do all their shopping under 1 roof...This has had a massive impact on specialist store-
* Butchers are very much a dying breed, most "Butchers" these days aren't actual butchers and can't give you an answer(seems to be changing in some areas)

*Bakers…Do they even exist anymore…O’Connors are the only ones I know of that…And I have my doubts about how much baking actually takes places…I know in the like of Spar, Tesco & Centra all the “baked” goods arrive in frozen, to be defrosted or “cooked” from frozen.

* Bookstores, have over the years been looking for specific books, and the staff within the bookstore just check the computer and it’s a yes or no. The staff don’t seem much interested in answering any question, I’d imagine its because they only care if they can make a sale

Working from Home
The current Working from Home due to Covid19 has raised concerns about the viability of numerous business’. If WFH continues, there are many business’ that will likely suffer from reduced workforce within towns & cities…
There has been a push to create stuff to sell for the lowest possible price…This has a major affect on the wages people earn and quality of items available on the market…

Online stores/marketplaces too have a part to play in this, as brick & mortar stores are trying to compete on price…But if these brick & mortar stores actually offered some level of expertise I’m sure folks would be happy to give them their custom.

In Limerick there is the Milk Market and Cork you have the English Market. Now these are food producers for the most part, so not competing with Amazon.

The foods in both places are more expensive than the supermarket. But the higher prices is offset as the folks working there have expertise and are opening to engaging with customers questions.

If the euro cost of an item is the only thing customers are looking at, brick & mortar stores are numbered, and if they are numbered, where will a lot of further employment come from…

L1011

Zara haven't closed down; they're closing only a % of stores and possibly none in Ireland.

Clothing retail has been moving increasingly online; but the Leicester scandal and environmental moves - returned clothes are generally landfilled or burned, not resold - is probably going to lead to increased prices and taxation on that sector. Same for fast fashion retailers selling low quality items designed for a few wears - won't be publicly acceptable soon. Expect some drift back to physical shops.

I have two proper local butchers, a proper bakery (albeit I'm still unwilling to use them after a mid-1990s Eastern Healthboard closure that was considered one of the worst violations ever discovered) and a local bookshop that did quite well with local online orders / doorstep delivery during lockdown. Local food specialist retailers have done VERY well with people working from home and when limited in distance. In addition to the types you mentioned, we've a fishmonger, a proper greengrocer and an organics specialist all of whom are booming; the latter moved to a larger premises in the past weeks.

WFH is going to affect food service retailers in city centres and industrial estates more than anything else.