WHat would you change about Waterford Shops, locations etc..

JLemmon

I'll start
Move bloody Argos into a Retail park outside town with a carpark and easy access for buying large items.
HMV or Virgin as mentioned before.
More choice of bookshops.
Make BPM bigger!

merlante

JLemmon wrote:

I'll start
Move bloody Argos into a Retail park outside town with a carpark and easy access for buying large items.
HMV or Virgin as mentioned before.
More choice of bookshops.
Make BPM bigger!

I say leave Argos where it is and just build a new one out of town. The city centre Argos is handy for lots of people, and the population is there to support a second one.

Tanabe

But M&S HAS to be in the town centre?

merlante

Tanabe wrote:

But M&S HAS to be in the town centre?

Certainly their primary presence in Waterford has to be in the city centre. I'd be very worried that the biggest and best shops coming to Waterford would cluster on the outskirts, thus weakening the centre considerably, and causing the city as a whole big problems down the line.

The rationale, as was pointed out before, can be found in the last few Waterford City development plans and the Waterford Planning, Land Use & Transportation Study (PLUTS).

BBM77

I would like to see the new shopping centre on Michael St built NOW.
I also would like a big HMV. I would like to see bigger shops in general, not one’s that are full with five people in them. I would like a Timberland store and a shop like The Great Outdoors in Dublin. I would like most of all for certain people to understand that progress in the city centre is a good thing!!!!!

Tanabe

merlante wrote:

Certainly their primary presence in Waterford has to be in the city centre. I'd be very worried that the biggest and best shops coming to Waterford would cluster on the outskirts, thus weakening the centre considerably, and causing the city as a whole big problems down the line.

The rationale, as was pointed out before, can be found in the last few Waterford City development plans and the Waterford Planning, Land Use & Transportation Study (PLUTS).

Yes but is there a venue big enough in the city centre to facilitate M&S plans size wise i.e 50,000 sq.ft.?

merlante

Tanabe wrote:

Yes but is there a venue big enough in the city centre to facilitate M&S plans size wise i.e 50,000 sq.ft.?

The Michael St. centre they are trying to build would be ideal. It would be a tragedy if M&S went to the ORR and the centre in town ended up being below par as a result. There will be 3 large anchor units in the new centre if it ever gets through, so I'm thinking M&S, Debenhams and maybe HMV/Waterstones could go in there. With M&S out of the picture you'd have Dunnes I suppose. Plus those of us who don't have a car won't be able to go to the M&S at all. I don't mind a smaller M&S on the outskirts if their major presence is going to be in town, but if there bigger one is outside that would be **** for the centre and **** for those who don't drive. Public transport starts to seem a little bit more pointless too when it doesn't actually take you to some of the main shopping areas.

Maharet

Do we really need another Debenhams though? Isn't there something better that could go there instead? A Brown Thomas maybe? I'm sure there'd be a market for somewhere like that.

merlante

Maharet wrote:

Do we really need another Debenhams though? Isn't there something better that could go there instead? A Brown Thomas maybe? I'm sure there'd be a market for somewhere like that.

What else is there though?

Brown Thomas are more of a street front type of store, but I don't know where else they could go. It's a pity Roches is gone, a Roches and a Debenhams *might* have offered more choice. Personally, I thought that Roches just had the same stuff (labels) except less. It's more about labels these days anyway, except for Dunnes, Pennys and M&S which still have own brand stuff...

Maharet

Roches was better, had a better choice, it had designer household stuff and reasonable priced stuff. And just stuff that wasn't cheap Dunnes tat but had a similar range to choose from. I suppose if brands is what people care about more (how sad :rolleyes:) then Debenhams is slightly better that way.

Yeah I think Roches and Debenhams would have been better all right, I've never been that impressed with Debenhams though to be honest even the one in Dublin. It seems to be just all style and no substance. Plus the clothes parts are all pretty much the same, there's a lot more over priced beauty products and make up of course which I'm sure it very popular in a place like Waterford.

I mean if your going to go for expensive designer stuff you might as well go all the way to a Brown Thomas.

DéiseGirl

I was over in the homewares section of the Debenhams in Mary Street at lunchtime and I have to say I really think Roches was better.

mryan

Has anyone noticed the amount of shops / pubs closed in the city centre of late? Its shocking to see so many empty retail outlets in the city. The michael st complex really must go ahead, I dont even know where the Railway Sq development is going to find suitable long term retail tennants from. Maybe when the cinema opens someone might take a chance.

I think HMV are having probs with losing sales to online outlets, so I dont know what there plans for expansion in 2007 are, but I thought I read they were going to close some outlets.

What the hell happened to Topshop? Did it go with Debenhams coming in?

I'd like to see M&S come in and maybe Tesco Poleberry knocked to the ground.

Mini

I would love to see Easons in Waterford.

Give the book centre a run for their money and take away the monopoly.

kitty_kilkenny

I'd move the whole city about 10 miles nearer Dunmore East.:)

JLemmon

Yeah I noticed that alot of empty units are poppin up
in town.
I agree on on HMV point, from what I've read of late they are cutting back abit so think we missed the boat by about 10 years on this one.
Think a big reason for out of towners to come in now is parking and mobility around town.
I'm in dungarvan and it's just as easy to go to cork now, 55 min and parking is easy, then going to waterford, you'd spend an hour fecking around in traffic etc. just maybe a reason.

merlante

JLemmon wrote:

Yeah I noticed that alot of empty units are poppin up
in town.
I agree on on HMV point, from what I've read of late they are cutting back abit so think we missed the boat by about 10 years on this one.
Think a big reason for out of towners to come in now is parking and mobility around town.
I'm in dungarvan and it's just as easy to go to cork now, 55 min and parking is easy, then going to waterford, you'd spend an hour fecking around in traffic etc. just maybe a reason.

On the HMV point. If the Galway and Limerick HMVs continue to make money, then they will eventually come to Waterford too. If not, they will eventually leave and just have a big store in Dublin and Cork maybe.

btw., It's 'up' to Waterford, not 'down' to Waterford!

JLemmon

I'm from hillview so used to going down town, down to the shop, down to the pub But agree we should never go up to cork

merlante

JLemmon wrote:

I'm from hillview so used to going down town, down to the shop, down to the pub But agree we should never go up to cork

Hillview is in the town for feck sake. Dungarvan is 'down' from Waterford. Cork is down from everywhere.

fricatus

JLemmon wrote:

I'm in dungarvan and it's just as easy to go to cork now, 55 min and parking is easy, then going to waterford, you'd spend an hour fecking around in traffic etc. just maybe a reason.

This is something that people all over the SE have been saying about Waterford for years, that access and parking are a huge problem.

It's also cited as a reason why the airport should be moved to... you guessed it, Kilkenny! :rolleyes: Maybe we should move the beach too!

Sarcasm aside though, there is certainly this perception that going into Waterford and parking is difficult. I can't say I agree... but what am I missing here? Do we need just to signpost our carparks better? Even in somewhere like Newbridge, there's an electronic display signposting all the carparks and displaying how many spaces are in each. Why isn't that done here?

merlante

fricatus wrote:

This is something that people all over the SE have been saying about Waterford for years, that access and parking are a huge problem.

It's also cited as a reason why the airport should be moved to... you guessed it, Kilkenny! :rolleyes: Maybe we should move the beach too!

Sarcasm aside though, there is certainly this perception that going into Waterford and parking is difficult. I can't say I agree... but what am I missing here? Do we need just to signpost our carparks better? Even in somewhere like Newbridge, there's an electronic display signposting all the carparks and displaying how many spaces are in each. Why isn't that done here?

I don't understand this. There are carparks lying idle at all times. You can even park on the Quay ffs, it couldn't be easier.

fricatus

merlante wrote:

I don't understand this. There are carparks lying idle at all times. You can even park on the Quay ffs, it couldn't be easier.

Well quite... but then where does the perception come from?

Anyone from outside Waterford want to jump in with why it's so hard to battle through the traffic, find a parking space, etc? I mean it's not Tokyo ffs...

merlante

fricatus wrote:

Well quite... but then where does the perception come from?

Anyone from outside Waterford want to jump in with why it's so hard to battle through the traffic, find a parking space, etc? I mean it's not Tokyo ffs...

I think it is just part of a well ingrained disdain for Waterford harboured by our neighbours.

In what other city is the city centre practically the same thing as the edge of the city, with a car park running most of the 1km length of the Quay right there. What other city would squander a great riverside boulevard like the Quay on parking, just so people don't have the bother of driving into a multi-story? Only in Waterford!

I'd say if the Suir was paved over and made into a carpark people would still be bitching!