iseegirls wrote: » Sounds like Chopped has closed all of a sudden as well. That didn't last long.
dartboardio wrote: » No way? Jesus everything is going downhill. Not good to see places closing down and they spending hundreds of thousands opening new areas in a shopping centre and we cant keep 2 businesses already in town.. Apparently the owner of the bagels factory has a very ill family member and needed to go away to mind her or something. No more mexican bagels Jeez that place had bad luck. A young girl that worked there only died a year or two ago aswell.
friendlyfun wrote: » Absolutely loved the Bagel factory. Staff were always kind and the deals were pretty good. It sort of a unique niche in the city. Definitely will be missed and I find it very sad it had it had to close. Wish the best for the owners.
friendlyfun wrote: » Metalman, chopped, and bagel factory in recent weeks. I hope this isn't the sign of something bad.
hardybuck wrote: » 2/3 were new shops, and a lot of new businesses go under in their first year. Sometimes things just don't work out. However, what's the typical person who's knocking around Waterford city centre on a Tuesday lunchtime, or after the shops close every evening? In terms of those working in town, would it be fair to say that most are those who are working in the shops themselves? There's not a lot of residential and there isn't a lot of office workers. If you had more office workers you'd have more people out looking for lunch. Shoppers are unlikely to be stopping for lunch if they're only popping in for a couple of hours, particularly on weekdays where a lot of them are probably retired people. Similarly in terms of the pub, who'd be down around the Quay on a midweek night? A small volume of residents, maybe some people from the hotels, but it appears that there's a huge exodus from the city centre once the shops close. That would definitely make trading in town that bit more difficult than somewhere like the Dunmore Road for example.
PTH2009 wrote: » A few undesirables and teenage groups would be prob frequent hangers around in red square after the shops close. Hopefully more tourists will be around the area for the summer. For a city centre we have a low number of pubs (Gingerman, City Arms and JK Walshs) which they could be absolutely dead after 6pm on a weekday but do a lot of lunch trade during the day. Tbh Tullys/downes and Tom Mahers would not be city centre but would be livelier esp tullys weekdays and would have an ok crowd going in. Pubs on the quay/Viking triangle can be quite mixed in clientele but reg/Uisce Beatha/Katy Barry's/Itty Bittys are nice places. Jordons is a legendary place but something about it I'm sure off The high street restaurants do ok in the evening time as do to an extent McDonalds/Supermacs
friendlyfun wrote: » Went into abrakebabra the other day for something, they said at 5-50pm that they were only doing takeaways. I'm pretty sure the older one served up to longer hours?
iseegirls wrote: » They need Des Bishop back in there to sort things out.
PTH2009 wrote: » jesus how things have changed in the area since that show. That was were Apache is now, the Kentucky and another chipper (Moes i think) was across where Abra ended up. There was a shop where Centra is now. Revolution was only been build Wonder how Hilbillies will do down in the new unit ??. Prob another Kebab place will move into the old premises
MartyMcFly84 wrote: » Chopped was struggling a while. They had very limited staff and stock as a cost saving exercise which compounded the problem as they couldn't provided appropriate service when busy. But the main issue in Waterford is extremely high rents and rates. The amount businesses need to make just to cover rent and rates is eye watering. Once you add payroll, PRSI , stock, services etc its extremely hard to make a living unless you own the building. The only businesses that can pay these high rents/rates are and operates on low profit margins are chains. However they generally need more floor space than the average commercial space in Waterford City. Hence the high number of empty retail units in and around city centre I have heard stories of commercial landlords preferring to leave their units empty rather than lowering rents. I was seriously considering opening up my own business in Waterford City but have had serious second thoughts when looking into the overheads.
Adyx wrote: » Is that what's happening? Hillbillies is going in where Abra was?
What's the logic behind that?
Few quote from the City Square manager in the News & Star this week regarding Chopped: "model didn't really suit a shopping centre" "unfortunately the offer really only fills that 12.30 to 2.30pm lunchtime slot and when you have a shopping centre that opens from 9am till late it wasn't sustainable" "it just happens that the appetite wasn't there in Waterford for the Chopped offerings" Also stated that a few companies have been in touch about the vacant unit, but I'd believe that when I see it - considering the amount of vacant units in City Square that have been lying idle for over a year, especially in Nexts old space - about 10 years
