Stores Closing in Sligo mod warning post #720

bobcar61 · 10-01-2009 10:54pm

Back on topic....Instore up in the retail park closed their doors for the final time today.
It was just the Sligo branch and not the whole company!Shame the coffee is gone now:(

fozzle · 11-01-2009 12:07am

We're gonna have to start a support group for the retail park staff I think. Those whose jobs are gone, and those living in fear.

TequilaMockingBird · 11-01-2009 12:09am

fozzle wrote: »

We're gonna have to start a support group for the retail park staff I think. Those whose jobs are gone, and those living in fear.

Its crap. Good luck, hope ye get on ok.

TequilaMockingBird · 11-01-2009 12:11am

darealtulip wrote: »

thanks big mac and bobcar for letting us know about toycity getting new stuff in, we just bought some nursery stuff really cheap for our new edition, ITS GONNA BE A........... GIRL!!! we had our scan today

Yaaaay! Girls are cool!

bobcar61 · 11-01-2009 12:15am

I had been living in fear for my job but I got the news yesterday that my contract was cut,no redundancies though but I'm not sure if everyone will accept the changes so might see a few people leave as a result.

how are ye in Harry Corry,any job losses.Do customers ever ask you when Homebase is closing,because we get it all the time and one woman today just didn't understand that we weren't closing down,"but I've heard you are"...well you've heard a rumour love!!And if we arn't closing,then we are relocationg down to Cleveragh....ehh why would that be a sensible move??

Oh and nobody ever asks us if Harry Corry are closing though

AlmightyCushion · 11-01-2009 12:28am

bobcar61 wrote: »

Do customers ever ask you when Homebase is closing,because we get it all the time and one woman today just didn't understand that we weren't closing down,"but I've heard you are"...well you've heard a rumour love!!And if we arn't closing,then we are relocationg down to Cleveragh....ehh why would that be a sensible move??

Did she hear it from someone with an inside source? They always hear it from someone with an inside source.

dingding · 11-01-2009 12:34am

bobcar61 wrote: »

I had been living in fear for my job but I got the news yesterday that my contract was cut,no redundancies though but I'm not sure if everyone will accept the changes so might see a few people leave as a result.

how are ye in Harry Corry,any job losses.Do customers ever ask you when Homebase is closing,because we get it all the time and one woman today just didn't understand that we weren't closing down,"but I've heard you are"...well you've heard a rumour love!!And if we arn't closing,then we are relocationg down to Cleveragh....ehh why would that be a sensible move??

Oh and nobody ever asks us if Harry Corry are closing though

Sorry to hear that you have lost your job. I hope that you are successful in getting a replacement job. It is a terrible time.

fozzle · 11-01-2009 12:35am

bobcar61 wrote: »

I had been living in fear for my job but I got the news yesterday that my contract was cut, no redundancies though but I'm not sure if everyone will accept the changes so might see a few people leave as a result.

how are ye in Harry Corry,any job losses.Do customers ever ask you when Homebase is closing,because we get it all the time and one woman today just didn't understand that we weren't closing down,"but I've heard you are"...well you've heard a rumour love!!And if we arn't closing,then we are relocationg down to Cleveragh....ehh why would that be a sensible move??

Oh and nobody ever asks us if Harry Corry are closing though

Urgh contract cuts *hugs* poor you. Yeah, people ask us when you guys are closing all the time. But they ask when we are closing all the time too, and they just can't bear to believe it when we say we aren't. But then, these are the same people who freak out when we try to explain that "just because Homebase are having 10% off day doesn't mean we are. No we are NOT the same company."

fozzle · 11-01-2009 12:36am

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Did she hear it from someone with an inside source? They always hear it from someone with an inside source.

Gotta get me one of those - apparantly they know more about my shop than my manager. These are usually the customers who don't even know what country our head office is in too......

bobcar61 · 11-01-2009 12:36am

Oh but of course she did.Even though in one of the papers it was confirmed it wasn't true a few weeks back.

The retail park will become a bit of a ghost town,most of the furniture shops will go I's say,too many of them in a small area.

Marie from Currys was in today,said business was slowish today and they have already had their cutbacks....hows PC World doing?

bobcar61 · 11-01-2009 12:41am

fozzle wrote: »

Gotta get me one of those - apparantly they know more about my shop than my manager. These are usually the customers who don't even know what country our head office is in too......

I like those people,if they get smart with me I will get smart back with them.
Lady told me she was going to write to Head Office of Homebase which according to her was in Cork,had to break it to her...."actually there isn't even a store in Cork,Head Office is in Milton Keyens".....oh ok then where abouts in Dublin is that..."actually love its in the U.K"
Some people ehh...:P

bobcar61 · 11-01-2009 12:43am

dingding wrote: »

Sorry to hear that you have lost your job. I hope that you are successful in getting a replacement job. It is a terrible time.

I didn't lose my job,just my contract was cut.From 20 hours to 16.5 which isn't too bad as I have more study to do this term for college and i can go out more often:)

AlmightyCushion · 11-01-2009 12:45am

bobcar61 wrote: »

Oh but of course she did.Even though in one of the papers it was confirmed it wasn't true a few weeks back.

The retail park will become a bit of a ghost town,most of the furniture shops will go I's say,too many of them in a small area.

Marie from Currys was in today,said business was slowish today and they have already had their cutbacks....hows PC World doing?

Today started off slow in pc world but really picked up after a while and we had a decent day in the end. I didn't know currys had cutback on staff. Are you sure it wasn't just the staff for the christmas period? If so they were always going to go once christmas was over.

fozzle · 11-01-2009 12:45am

bobcar61 wrote: »

I like those people,if they get smart with me I will get smart back with them.
Lady told me she was going to write to Head Office of Homebase which according to her was in Cork,had to break it to her...."actually there isn't even a store in Cork,Head Office is in Milton Keyens".....oh ok then where abouts in Dublin is that..."actually love its in the U.K"
Some people ehh...:P

"I'm going to write to your head office, how do you like that?!" "That's your choice of course, do you need the address?" "Pah, you big English stores are all the same, trying to destroy this town." "Actually we're from Belfast, been there at least 30 years. And we're family-run." "Do you think I'm stupid, I know you're English." "No really, no stores in England at all........" :rolleyes:

fozzle · 11-01-2009 12:46am

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Today started off slow in pc world but really picked up after a while and we had a decent day in the end. I didn't know currys had cutback on staff. Are you sure it wasn't just the staff for the christmas period? If so they were always going to go once christmas was over.

How did I miss that you work there?! Pah, we've all missed so many opportunities for a retail park boards party........

AlmightyCushion · 11-01-2009 12:49am

fozzle wrote: »

How did I miss that you work there?! Pah, we've all missed so many opportunities for a retail park boards party........

We should just bring in some vodka and then the lot of us get shítfaced on lunch together.

EL3CTR0S1S · 11-01-2009 12:49am

That retail park is closing really early compared to 5mths ago

fozzle · 11-01-2009 12:50am

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

We should just bring in some vodka and then the lot of us get shítfaced on lunch together.

Meet you 'round the back? I've some Russian Standard.......

fozzle · 11-01-2009 12:51am

EL3CTR0S1S wrote: »

That retail park is closing really early compared to 5mths ago

We (Harry Corry's) are still open til 8 Monday - Wednesday and 9 Thursday and Friday, same as ever.

And trust me, you'll get parking.

bobcar61 · 11-01-2009 12:52am

No round the front is closer,in the corner where Homebase,PCW staff smoke,I used ta be one of them till 19days ago:)

Meet ya at 1ish,I might go on lunch then..:cool:

fozzle · 11-01-2009 12:54am

bobcar61 wrote: »

No round the front is closer,in the corner where Homebase,PCW staff smoke,I used ta be one of them till 19days ago:)

Meet ya at 1ish,I might go on lunch then..:cool:

Oooh grats man! But around the front means the danger of being nabbed by customers - I had one stop me in Tesco when I was doing my shopping and start asking me about ordering **** for her - trust me, there's a reason our staff smoke out the back.

bobcar61 · 11-01-2009 12:54am

EL3CTR0S1S wrote: »

That retail park is closing really early compared to 5mths ago

Ehh how,we(Homebase) are open till 8 Mon/Tues,9 Wed-Fri
Same as ever,I know Halfords now close an hour earlier during the week.

And yes,there is always a parking space outside Harry Corrys

Mint Sauce · 11-01-2009 12:55am

fozzle wrote: »

"I'm going to write to your head office, how do you like that?!" "That's your choice of course, do you need the address?" "Pah, you big English stores are all the same, trying to destroy this town." "Actually we're from Belfast, been there at least 30 years. And we're family-run." "Do you think I'm stupid, I know you're English." "No really, no stores in England at all........" :rolleyes:

sounds a bit like the guy who went into your shop to buy a TV, becuase he seen the TV in the corner of the store (the CCTV),

<shakes head>

getting back to topic, any more word on zavi, no real confirmation coming from any where, apart from that they are no longer taking vouchers brought before november

fozzle · 11-01-2009 12:57am

irish-stew wrote: »

sounds a bit like the guy who went into your shop to buy a TV, becuase he seen the TV in the corner of the store (the CCTV),

<shakes head>

getting back to topic, any more word on zavi, no real confirmation coming from any where, apart from that they are no longer taking vouchers brought before november

They're in a pretty good position to be one of the five stores bought by hmv - they've no competition on their scale in Sligo, not like Cork/Dublin.

bobcar61 · 11-01-2009 1:00am

Sorry but I havn't heard much.I know a guard that patrols the streets during the day and he would have a good rappor with the businesses in town and he went into Zavvi and they had said HMV were looking at taking over the store.
Hope its true because I have HMV vouchers and it would mean I dont have to travel any distance to use them

AlmightyCushion · 11-01-2009 1:00am

fozzle wrote: »

They're in a pretty good position to be one of the five stores bought by hmv - they've no competition on their scale in Sligo, not like Cork/Dublin.

That's what I was thinking. Hopefully this is the case.

bobcar61 · 11-01-2009 1:09am

fozzle wrote: »

They're in a pretty good position to be one of the five stores bought by hmv - they've no competition on their scale in Sligo, not like Cork/Dublin.

It must be true so,the two of us have heard this.I'm happy though if this turns out to be true,Johnston Court isn't great at the moment as it is but if Zavvi were to close it would become a real waste of space with the (one of the) biggest units in the place been vacant.

bobcar61 · 11-01-2009 1:11am

Oh and i believe the calendar shop in the same place will be going soon,if it hasn't gone already...surprise surprise:P

Wonder if any of the high street stores in Quayside will be closing or how are they coping or if that extension is going ahead or not?

dingding · 11-01-2009 1:15am

bobcar61 wrote: »

I didn't lose my job,just my contract was cut.From 20 hours to 16.5 which isn't too bad as I have more study to do this term for college and i can go out more often:)

Good to hear that, I was not sure from the post. Hope things pick up soon

bobcar61 · 11-01-2009 1:19am

Cheers,hopefully things will pick up.

Just glad I'm not joining the other 8.??% of unemployed in this country

darealtulip · 11-01-2009 9:56am

sueme wrote: »

Yaaaay! Girls are cool!

yeah and we have one of each then!!:D

magnumlady · 11-01-2009 1:00pm

bobcar61 wrote: »

Oh and i believe the calendar shop in the same place will be going soon,if it hasn't gone already...surprise surprise:P

Wonder if any of the high street stores in Quayside will be closing or how are they coping or if that extension is going ahead or not?

The calendar shop was only there for a while last year as well.
Its shut already.

Shame about Instore, the hubby will be gutted, he liked the coffee shop.

bennyc · 11-01-2009 1:11pm

I think the only thing in InStore that ws left on the floor yesterday evening was that massive couch on the floor right inside the door. Very sad to see.

Xiney · 11-01-2009 5:02pm

Instore is where Mr Xiney and I bought our lovely coffee table

Only one in the whole retail park in our price range that wasn't some hideous glass and chrome or knotty pine contraption.

TequilaMockingBird · 11-01-2009 5:20pm

Did Instore have a clearance sale or transfer the stock to another branch?

fozzle · 11-01-2009 6:58pm

bobcar61 wrote: »

It must be true so,the two of us have heard this.

Of course

And unlike THOSE customers, I do actually have a better source than "paddy down the road".

fozzle · 11-01-2009 7:00pm

sueme wrote: »

Did Instore have a clearance sale or transfer the stock to another branch?

They had a big sale, some impressive reductions.

Essexboy · 12-01-2009 3:12pm

Will Land of Leather be next?
They have gone into administration in the UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7824133.stm

Slidey · 12-01-2009 4:02pm

Was in PC world today and their service was nothing short of poor.

If every customer got the same reception i got yesterday and today they wouldn't be open for long

Basq · 12-01-2009 4:14pm

slideways wrote: »

Was in PC world today and their service was nothing short of poor.

If every customer got the same reception i got yesterday and today they wouldn't be open for long

Did he shout obscenities at you, and urinate on you as you passed by?

If so, that was our own AlmightyCushion!

bennyc · 12-01-2009 5:25pm

I see on another thread that Land of Leather are going into administration. So that will be 4 Stores from the retail park gone of thats the case.

jimmmy · 12-01-2009 5:41pm

If the park was closer to Sligo town it would have had a better chance. If someone gets the train or bus to Sligo, or lives in an apartment in Sligo without a car, are they going to walk all the way to the top of the hill in Carraroe in this weather ? Round trip of an hour. Go to Letterkenny and the retail park there is more accessible, for example.

AlmightyCushion · 12-01-2009 6:25pm

basquille wrote: »

Did he shout obscenities at you, and urinate on you as you passed by?

If so, that was our own AlmightyCushion!

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!!!!!

*urinates on Basquille*

darealtulip · 12-01-2009 9:23pm

jimmmy wrote: »

If the park was closer to Sligo town it would have had a better chance. If someone gets the train or bus to Sligo, or lives in an apartment in Sligo without a car, are they going to walk all the way to the top of the hill in Carraroe in this weather ? Round trip of an hour. Go to Letterkenny and the retail park there is more accessible, for example.

did we not discus this a while ago?? not again:p

tuppence · 12-01-2009 10:54pm

jimmmy wrote: »

If the park was closer to Sligo town it would have had a better chance. If someone gets the train or bus to Sligo, or lives in an apartment in Sligo without a car, are they going to walk all the way to the top of the hill in Carraroe in this weather ? Round trip of an hour. Go to Letterkenny and the retail park there is more accessible, for example.

Its a surprise to me that some developers are still trying to set up retail parks in Carraroe (and getting large media coverage for their endeavours throughout the year) especially when the one thats there is struggling.

Hopefully a bit of sense will be seen further to the deferral.
http://www.sligochampion.ie/news/more-information-sought-on-shanes-development-1585635.html

starbelgrade · 13-01-2009 4:03am

tuppence wrote: »

Its a surprise to me that some developers are still trying to set up retail parks in Carraroe (and getting large media coverage for their endeavours throughout the year) especially when the one thats there is struggling. Hopefully a bit of sense will be seen further to the deferral.
http://www.sligochampion.ie/news/more-information-sought-on-shanes-development-1585635.html

The retail park in Carrarow is in a perfect location for all of Sligo's "satellite towns" off the dual carraigeway - all it needs is a decent supermarket, some reasonably priced home & hardware shops, a cafe, a cinema & a Mac dog. Instead of 3 million empty parking spaces.

Has anyone ever noticed the complete lack of care about parking right beside the door of each shop - even disabled spots are not sacred.. "Oh I thought this was the loading bay"!

Stick a roof over half of it & make it a proper shopping centre I say. We may not be able to afford anything they sell, but at least we'll be dry & warm.

starbelgrade · 13-01-2009 4:05am

starbelgrade wrote: »

The retail park in Carrarow is in a perfect location for all of Sligo's "satellite towns" off the dual carraigeway - all it needs is a decent supermarket, some reasonably priced home & hardware shops, a cafe, a cinema & a Mac dog. Instead of 3 million empty parking spaces.

Has anyone ever noticed the complete lack of care about parking right beside the door of each shop - even disabled spots are not sacred.. "Oh I thought this was the loading bay"!

Stick a roof over half of it & make it a proper shopping centre I say. We may not be able to afford anything they sell, but at least we'll be dry & warm.

And free wi-fi with access restricted to job search engines & the FAS, Social Welfare & MABS sites,

elshambo · 13-01-2009 4:23am

starbelgrade wrote: »

The retail park in Carrarow is in a perfect location for all of Sligo's "satellite towns" off the dual carraigeway - all it needs is a decent supermarket, some reasonably priced home & hardware shops, a cafe, a cinema & a Mac dog. Instead of 3 million empty parking spaces.

Has anyone ever noticed the complete lack of care about parking right beside the door of each shop - even disabled spots are not sacred.. "Oh I thought this was the loading bay"!

Stick a roof over half of it & make it a proper shopping centre I say. We may not be able to afford anything they sell, but at least we'll be dry & warm.

Once they opened it without a supermarket it was dead in the water
It was only a matter of time, it was struggling before the crash!
Furniture shops, computer shops, toy shops, electricial shops and seasonal shops trive/survive on passing trade

No supermarket, no passing trade!
I knew a guy who was manager of a furniture shop up there for a while, was getting dogs abuse from Dublin&England about generating more sales

cant be done when nobody(shoppers) is within 2 miles of the shop
(BTW thats the exagerated royal grand scheme of things nobody!,
not the;excuse me, there are 100 house just down the road nobody:D)

jimmmy · 13-01-2009 11:50am

starbelgrade wrote: »

The retail park in Carrarow is in a perfect location for all of Sligo's "satellite towns" off the dual carraigeway

Its not a perfect location, if it was it would not be empty ....as regards the "satellite" towns, Sligo itself is the only satellite town of any size in the vicinity...the catchment area of Grange, Manorhamilton, Ballisodare, Collooney, Ballyshannon etc. A location closer to Sligo town centre , with its transport hubs ( bus station, taxi ranks, train station etc ) would have helped.

starbelgrade wrote: »

- all it needs is a decent supermarket,
some reasonably priced home & hardware shops, a cafe, a cinema & a Mac dog. Instead of 3 million empty parking spaces.

Carraroe had McD, other cafes and restaurants. Its home & hardware shops were competeting with each other...you can say they were not reasonably priced enough but their accountants may argue they did not make enough money on what they did sell. As regards a cinema, Sligo with a population of what it has, cannot support another cinema plex...last time I was in the one in Sligo it was mostly empty / struggling. Opening another cinema in Carraroe would only negatively affect it, the same as opening Carraroe negatively affected the furniture shops and hardware shops in the town for example. If a supermarket opened in Carraroe you could put a fence around Sligo and turn it in to a wildlife reserve.

To get back to topic, its a pity to see stores closing in Sligo, but there were too many of some kinds of shops anyway to be sustainable in todays recession. If the town had been planned properly ( with better parking, the "retail" parks closer to the town centre etc ) we would have had a better chance. How do you expect a visiting shopper say for example to navigate between Duncans island, Cleveragh "retail" park and Carraroe "retail" park, without getting lost + disillusioned ? An experienced town planner from England on holidays told me that years ago, and laughed at the mistakes made in Sligo. He has been proved right.

elshambo · 13-01-2009 12:02pm

jimmmy wrote: »

Its not a perfect location, if it was it would not be empty ....as regards the "satellite" towns, Sligo itself is the only satellite town of any size in the vicinity...the catchment area of Grange, Manorhamilton, Ballisodare, Collooney, Ballyshannon etc. A location closer to Sligo town centre , with its transport hubs ( bus station, taxi ranks, train station etc ) would have helped.

Carraroe had McD, other cafes and restaurants. Its home & hardware shops were competeting with each other...you can say they were not reasonably priced enough but their accountants may argue they did not make enough money on what they did sell. As regards a cinema, Sligo with a population of what it has, cannot support another cinema plex...last time I was in the one in Sligo it was mostly empty / struggling. Opening another cinema in Carraroe would only negatively affect it, the same as opening Carraroe negatively affected the furniture shops and hardware shops in the town for example. If a supermarket opened in Carraroe you could put a fence around Sligo and turn it in to a wildlife reserve.

To get back to topic, its a pity to see stores closing in Sligo, but there were too many of some kinds of shops anyway to be sustainable in todays recession. If the town had been planned properly ( with better parking, the "retail" parks closer to the town centre etc ) we would have had a better chance. An experienced town planner from England on holidays told me that years ago, and laughed at the mistakes made in Sligo. He has been proved right.

+1
Plan? what plan? We dont need no stinking plan!

So not only was it doomed to failure from the start
It was a bad idea to begin with!?
...As most doomed to "failure from the start" things are:o

The only problem i have with people who are town planners handing out advice is that I shared a house in college with a guy who is now a town planner in England

We gave him the name "sleepy" and not becasue he slept a lot!

Stores Closing in Sligo **mod warning post #720**

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Stores Closing in Sligo mod warning post #720