Affluent areas of Cork city

monkey8 · 10-10-2017 11:50pm #1

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 · 11-10-2017 12:01am

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. · 11-10-2017 5:37am

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 · 11-10-2017 7:09am

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 · 11-10-2017 9:38am

.red. wrote: »

Ballincollig would tick all the boxes.

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

Frostybrew · 11-10-2017 9:39am

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 · 11-10-2017 9:53am

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

boardsuser1 · 11-10-2017 9:54am

.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 · 11-10-2017 11:28am

Ludo wrote: »

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

:D:D

goochy · 11-10-2017 11:30am

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

.red. · 11-10-2017 12:46pm

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 · 11-10-2017 2:59pm

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 · 11-10-2017 3:02pm

You are best staying on the south side generally.

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

partyguinness · 11-10-2017 3:05pm

.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 · 11-10-2017 3:09pm

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 · 11-10-2017 3:18pm

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 · 11-10-2017 3:45pm

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 · 11-10-2017 7:25pm

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

Soon to be part of the city itself.

Sssscccchhhhhhhh

monkey8 · 11-10-2017 8:19pm

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 · 11-10-2017 8:46pm

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 ! · 11-10-2017 9:10pm

Avoid the northside ,togher, mahon,cobh and ballypheane

BionicRasher · 11-10-2017 9:19pm

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 · 11-10-2017 10:58pm

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.

12-10-2017 10:14am

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 · 12-10-2017 10:32am

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

Sephiroth_dude · 12-10-2017 10:55am

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 · 12-10-2017 11:46am

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 · 12-10-2017 1:14pm

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 · 12-10-2017 1:42pm

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 · 12-10-2017 2:17pm

timmyjimmy wrote: »

wouldn't go near specsavers or the like again.

Why?

BionicRasher · 12-10-2017 2:42pm

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

Affluent areas of Cork city

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