Limerick Businesses Closed V 2.0 [Mod note post 1]

RINO87 · 21-01-2015 3:40pm

yup, meant the toybox unit!

roast · 22-01-2015 9:59pm

Cellar Door closing again. Didn't even get a chance to check out the new location since it reopened. Feck.

https://www.facebook.com/cellar.door.7967

Poxyshamrock · 22-01-2015 10:52pm

Does anyone know why didn't it work in Cobblestone Joe's?

bennyl10 · 22-01-2015 11:38pm

Seemed to be going quite well in Cobblestones too.. Bleeh..

black & white · 23-01-2015 9:50am

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

Does anyone know why didn't it work in Cobblestone Joe's?

I work quite close to Cobblestones Joe's and I think part of the reason may be that the Cellar Door only opened around lunchtime and the couple of times I was in there it only seemed to serve scones and cakes. I would have though that they would do sandwiches and maybe a salad for people who want to have something more substantial to eat.

I also noticed that many of the people there seemed to be young art student types (no offense to anyone) who could make a coffee last an hour.

Ankhyu · 23-01-2015 5:00pm

black & white wrote: »

I also noticed that many of the people there seemed to be young art student types (no offense to anyone) who could make a coffee last an hour.

That's true actually, I know that one time I went in with a friend when they were below the Blind Pig, we ordered our coffees and one of the girls working there noticed there was nowhere to sit down, she went over to a group of teens and asked them to move outside, as there were about 6-8 of them taking up seats, but only one of them had a coffee.

It's a damn shame, because it was my favourite cafe in Limerick

I noticed that the Cash 4 Gold place in the Parkway, and also Star Accessories in Arthur's Quay have shut up shop

RINO87 · 24-01-2015 5:13am

black & white wrote: »

I work quite close to Cobblestones Joe's and I think part of the reason may be that the Cellar Door only opened around lunchtime and the couple of times I was in there it only seemed to serve scones and cakes. I would have though that they would do sandwiches and maybe a salad for people who want to have something more substantial to eat.

I also noticed that many of the people there seemed to be young art student types (no offense to anyone) who could make a coffee last an hour.

I think this just shows what a difficult business model a "comfy" coffee shop is, i really don't know how people make it work, never mind getting banks on board for finance.
I mean being able to laze on comfy seats and read a book is great and all, but nobody is going to spend more than a tenner in the place and they could be there for hours, and like was stated above you do get people who think they have a right to just take up space because one of their mates is there!! Contrast that to a pub, when the minimum spend would be at least a tenner, (granted different profit margins, but a huge contrast in cash flow alone). This is why i wonder why they set up IN a pub in the first place. I have no idea if Cobblestones had much of a daytime trade, but they are gonna take in a hell of alot more cash from a few auld lads supping pints, a few small ones and a fey bags of nuts/taytos during the day than they ever will off a few folks sipping coffee and buns, and now way in hell are those same auld fellas gonna stand for seeing "their" pub turn into a coffeeshop by day, so will just move on to another watering hole and take their money with them. Same said auld lads only require one member of staff in attendance, i'm yet to see a coffee shop being run by a person on their own, big difference in the wage bill.

Also, missing out on the morning trade for coffee really was a bit foolish. There are two big carpaks either side of cobblestones, so surely a few quid could have been made from people on their way to work. By all accounts the coffee was quite good, people would even go out of their way for good coffee in the morning.

The Stormy Teacupdo seem to be making a good job of the "comfy" coffee shop thing tho, hope that place survives. So much better than the get you in-get you out style of the big chains, yet its staggering how they can turn a decent profit.
Support the small guys people!! They are worth so much more to this town than any costa or starbucks ever could.

TheEntertainer · 25-01-2015 3:47am

Just noticed this thread, few comments to take note of..

Cellar door best coffee place in town. Wouldnt be worried about not doing a sandwich or a salad because people went there for the cakes and the coffee which was extremely decent. Plenty cafes in this city that do sandwiches and all that. About 30 of them doing the same crap and we need more cafes like Cellar door that offer good coffee, brilliant customer service unlike nearby cafes/bars and a nice relaxing place to go. Always going to be the ones who make coffee last for hours but go across the way and you find people making a coffee last for about 4 hours.
From what I have been told there were disagreements with owners of Joes. Not sure how true it is but was talking to the 2 girls who run Cellar door and felt really sorry for them. Its gonna be missed

Munster Rugby store, only noticed during the week that it was gone. I know it had been taken over by lifestyle some time back. So guessing that Lifestyle consolidated it into their william st store. Lifestyle now also have the Munster store in Thomond park stadium. Guessing once the lease was up, no point keeping it on.

Toybox has closed but from a source who I know working with them, they are looking for a new unit at present and they are definitely re-opening, they just dont know where yet. Lets face it, any retail outlet that has ever gone in there hasnt lasted and simply take advantage of the free lease period and then move on. Was the plan since day one there I understand. They were looking at the old GAME unit along with a unit on Thomas St both of which have been taken, so its to the drawing board. Not a huge number of vacant units left to suit being honest.

Have also noticed the Limerick FC store is gone from front of AQ (dont know if that was mentioned) Not a bit surprised as the most sold item inside there happened to be parking tickets and now with it being off season, no point having the store there.

Itsdacraic · 29-01-2015 2:21pm

Curleys Office Supplies seemed to be closed yesterday with a TO LET sign on the shutter.

They were one of the few stores in the city center that still closed at lunch time, which seemed like madness to me.

mossym · 29-01-2015 2:29pm

Franz in the industrial estate in raheen all locked up at lunchtime, hadn't heard it was closed but hadn't been there in a few weeks

Special Circumstances · 29-01-2015 3:38pm

mossym wrote: »

Franz in the industrial estate in raheen all locked up at lunchtime, hadn't heard it was closed but hadn't been there in a few weeks

Next to the caravan park is it?

mossym · 29-01-2015 3:40pm

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Next to the caravan park is it?

??? what caravan park?

Mc Love · 29-01-2015 5:46pm

Sorry if I missed it but that golf shop in Castletroy closed or has it moved?

Jofspring · 20-03-2015 6:45pm

Amphibian King looks closed down. Just passed it and saw the to let sign in front of the door and the shutters down.

It's good to see this thread is not as active as it was two years ago.

mossym · 20-03-2015 9:21pm

Jofspring wrote: »

Amphibian King looks closed down. Just passed it and saw the to let sign in front of the door and the shutters down.

It's good to see this thread is not as active as it was two years ago.

Closed for several months now. Owner still going strong in oranmore branch

Mc Love · 27-03-2015 11:47am

mossym wrote: »

Closed for several months now. Owner still going strong in oranmore branch

Was signing people up for jogging and never got any follow up. Looks like they were more focused on the Galway branch.

It needed to be in a better location too.

sconhome · 27-03-2015 12:00pm

Mc Love wrote: »

Was signing people up for jogging and never got any follow up. Looks like they were more focused on the Galway branch.

It needed to be in a better location too.

Unfortunately there was not enough local interest in forming the running group which was an awful pity. If after signing up to the newsletter you didn't get a message saying it was not going ahead, I apologise as that was my responsibility.

I ask what location you would think would be better?

Genuinely, we scouted a lot of locations and felt that while the locale was not the best the placement of the store with regard access to customers in Limerick / Cork/ Clare & Kerry was ideal.

AK is not a city centre store that is depending on footfall, you do not get the same service and time in a high footfall store which would have been to the detriment of our customers.

As for focus on Galway. That is our first store. I commuted up and down to Limerick, was at all the races myself. I was the one in the store. To be perfectly blunt because of the focus that Limerick was given we struggled for a bit in Oranmore as I wasn't there as much.

The exercise has shown us that our particular style of operation is not expandible in the classic chain type setup of store after store after store. Rightly or wrongly, the service and experience is far too personal for people for it to be scalable in that way.

sconhome · 27-03-2015 12:02pm

Jofspring wrote: »

Amphibian King looks closed down. Just passed it and saw the to let sign in front of the door and the shutters down.

It's good to see this thread is not as active as it was two years ago.

Unfortunately we closed there in August 2014.

Mc Love · 27-03-2015 12:19pm

AKW wrote: »

Unfortunately there was not enough local interest in forming the running group which was an awful pity. If after signing up to the newsletter you didn't get a message saying it was not going ahead, I apologise as that was my responsibility.

I ask what location you would think would be better?

Genuinely, we scouted a lot of locations and felt that while the locale was not the best the placement of the store with regard access to customers in Limerick / Cork/ Clare & Kerry was ideal.

AK is not a city centre store that is depending on footfall, you do not get the same service and time in a high footfall store which would have been to the detriment of our customers.

As for focus on Galway. That is our first store. I commuted up and down to Limerick, was at all the races myself. I was the one in the store. To be perfectly blunt because of the focus that Limerick was given we struggled for a bit in Oranmore as I wasn't there as much.

The exercise has shown us that our particular style of operation is not expandible in the classic chain type setup of store after store after store. Rightly or wrongly, the service and experience is far too personal for people for it to be scalable in that way.

The level of service my partner and I got was top notch I have to say that, apologies if it didnt come across that way.

I do think you could provide the same level of service had you been located in a shopping centre, although being close to Aldi I would have assumed you would get a decent bit. Out of the cauldron and into the fire, but maybe a unit based in the Castletroy SC would have been a better fit. University near by, huge fitness culture out there, better economic area, it would be ideal.

As for not getting the same level of service from a city center store, just look at Gleesons on William street, unrivalled customer care and service there with knowledgeable people working there and a great range of products too.

sconhome · 27-03-2015 3:29pm

Mc Love wrote: »

The level of service my partner and I got was top notch I have to say that, apologies if it didnt come across that way.

Not at all, delighted you were looked after properly.

Mc Love wrote: »

I do think you could provide the same level of service had you been located in a shopping centre, although being close to Aldi I would have assumed you would get a decent bit. Out of the cauldron and into the fire, but maybe a unit based in the Castletroy SC would have been a better fit. University near by, huge fitness culture out there, better economic area, it would be ideal.

As for not getting the same level of service from a city center store, just look at Gleesons on William street, unrivalled customer care and service there with knowledgeable people working there and a great range of products too.

Without going into it too much this is a common misunderstanding about a specialist store.

Location beside Aldi was not about footfall it was about access to the whole South West region and providing free parking. The problem with a specialist store in a high footfall area is the disruption in service - "Sorry, excuse me, back to you in a sec, gotta see if these folk are ok" etc etc. The reason people come to us in the first place is the knowledge and the service, they come back for the service and the chat if they don't get the attention they deserve then they are not getting the service they deserve.

This can just not happen in a shopping centre or to make it happen you have to employ more staff, which again will dilute the service as most people want to be fitted by experienced staff and not just part-timers. Higher rents and rates means you have to sell many more shoes in shorter time which means as a customer you won't get 30 mins or an hour or more of one on one time.

We looked out in Castletroy too but didn't suit for the business. Again we look at a much bigger picture than that of the immediate local profile. Our draw is to a much bigger audience than the people in the vicinity.

I really appreciate the comments and the interest, I see where you are coming from, but unfortunately it just didn't work out for us in Limerick.

Mc Love · 28-03-2015 8:11am

Best of luck with your store in Oranmore AKW

Lisa2011 · 20-04-2015 6:33pm

Graveys announced closure of supervalu in Newcastle west.

Mod Edit

45 to 50 jobs lost from this Saturday April 25th.

Jofspring · 20-04-2015 6:54pm

Lisa2011 wrote: »

Graveys announced closure of supervalu in Newcastle west.

45 to 50 jobs lost from this Saturday April 25th.

Lots of Irish working in Lidl and Aldi. Majority are not Irish I'll grant you that but there are still lots.

20-04-2015 7:06pm

That SuperValu was a disaster. Trying to get served was a challenge in itself. Some of the older checkout girls would have no problem yacking away to Breda for 5 or 10 mins about mass while you just stood there waiting. They'd nearly make you feel like you were intruding on their conversations. The place was never busy as a result. People favour Dooleys SuperValu across the road. You go in, get your bits, straight through the checkout and off you went. No chatting, just in and out. Very similar to how lidl and aldi operate.

Saying that, no one ever likes seeing a business close down. The fresh food Garvey's do/did was top notch. Quality meat, bread, fruit etc and was in a handy location. I even have a nephew working there who will be out of a job by the end of the week.

Clareman · 20-04-2015 7:09pm

Speculation into malpractise by a company isn't allowed, please don't do it again. Also, use the report post function if you have a problem with a post.

georgem25 · 28-04-2015 12:41pm

The closure of the Eurospar store at Watch House Cross in Moyross has been greeted with shock and anger.
Customers and staff at the store, which opened in 2010, learned of the closure early this morning.
A sign posted in the front door reads: “Due to the very challenging trading environment, it is with regret that we announce that Eurospar, Watch House Cross, has ceased trading with immediate effect.”
There is confusion as to what impact the closure will have on the local Post Office, which is located inside the premises.
Pat Dunlea, regional operations manager with An Post, has confirmed that social welfare recipients will be able to collect their payments at Caherdavin Post Office from 3pm today.
Around 25 staff, who worked at the store, are being briefed by company management at the Greenhills Hotel this morning.
Deputy Willie O’Dea says the closure is a surprise.
“I’m absolutely shocked, I was under the imprsssion that that business was doing very well. I sincerely hope there is some logical explanation and that the jobs can be saved, It’s a very big shock,” he told Live 95FM.
http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/business/business-news/shock-at-closure-of-eurospar-in-moyross-1-6713283