A nice modern shopping centre..

l3LoWnA

........couldn't Galway city do with one?

Like, the one on the headford road is a bit antiquated isn't it? And the one in town is a bit dreary too - correct me if I'm wrong.

But it would be nice to go into a nice, bright, airy, BIG, modern and spacious shopping centre packed with bigger and brighter versions of all the shops squeezed into the shopping centres that aready exist.

What's the story with Penneys in town? I've never seen a messier or more disorganised penneys in the whole country? Anyone agree? Maybe they need a bigger place? It's always crazy and all over the place when I've been in there!

All that aside - I love Galway! :eek::cool:I'm not living there at the moment, but I just love the place, was down there all day today - taffic was terrible because of the hurling :mad: wish I could move back though

leninbenjamin

l3LoWnA wrote:

A nice modern shopping centre

come on now, this is Ireland. ya might get something nice, ya might get something modern, but i'll be damned if ya ever get all 3 at once. the West of the city has been crying out for one for ages, and when we finally do get something that approximates this it's another feckin Dunnes... hurrah!

the only chance though we'll ever have of seeing a decent shopping centre is if the proposed bypass/ring road thing is finally built. otherwise we just don't have the roads anywhere to cater for the traffic one will command.

l3LoWnA

True, traffic is terrible all sides!! But that would have been an ideal site where they built the new Dunnes - the Headford road Dunnes is already MASSIVE and there's the big one in town and the smaller one in Westside, I'd say there isn't a cupboard in the whole of Galway that doesn't have Dunnes products in it @ this stage! :rolleyes:

I travel regularly to Blanchardstown and/or Liffey Valley in Dublin which is an hour and a half farther away from me than Galway. It wouldn't have to be IN the city, somewhere outside it?!? Ballybrit/Ballybane area or out where all the development is going on @ Doughiska perhaps? Even between Oranmore & Claregalway?!

randylonghorn

Aye, coz we really need another temple to the newest religion: consumerism! :rolleyes:

Mike...

I think with all the new dunnes in Galway Terryland might close
As for new shopping centres look at the new place on the headford road across from the galway plate...dont think it has 50% tenants..

MattKid

It would be nice to have ONE place to go to do all your shopping, rather than checking out shop street for something, then headford road centre, then maybe Tuam Rd.

ScumLord

They're building a few new ones around the city. There's a new one going up out near the Clybaun hotel. It'll be big shops like B&Q. And isn't there another one going up near ballybrit?

leninbenjamin

ScumLord wrote: »

They're building a few new ones around the city. There's a new one going up out near the Clybaun hotel. It'll be big shops like B&Q. And isn't there another one going up near ballybrit?

they are more retail parks for large open plan stores than a shopping centre aren't they?

i'd like to see a proper suburban "mall" on the east side of the city, might alleviate some of the traffic into town and generally make life a bit easier for the folk in the smaller towns that side of the county.

Zzippy

Galway Shopping Centre is currently going through the planning process for total change - demolish existing centre and build a big place like the OP is looking for. May take several years, but will probably happen

kevmy

Yeah knocking down the Galway Shopping Centre and building a new one would be alright but I'd hate to see one being built too close to the centre of town. I mean if they do too much of that kind of stuff Galway will lose some of itself. Personally I think that from Prospect Hill to Mill Street to the Hospital and from the Docks to Wodquay should have very strict planning laws and any major developments planned for there should be very carefully looked at. Outside of that are then okay you can knock down stuff and build something new and modern.

LadyMayBelle

gsc could really do with an overhaul..the new Dunnes (not Stores!) is a nice one, bright and airy, lots of little smaller retail units too waiting to be filled...I heard Lidl were trying to get in too but were unsuccessful...but yes a nice big shopping centre, a H&M, some outdoors stores....

r3nu4l

These places are best klept outside the city imo. Both Blanchardstown and Liffey Valley shopping centres in Dublin are large, have retail parks and more importantly, have plenty of room around them to develop infrastructure as they grow. Now neither of these places are ideal but there's no way they could have been built nearer Dublin.

The key is to develop a centre that is well served with roads, bus/rail links and parking. Without those, consumers become disillisioned and either don't use the place or get frustrated doing so.

JohnCleary

r3nu4l wrote: »

The key is to develop a centre that is well served with roads, bus/rail links and parking. Without those, consumers become disillisioned and either don't use the place or get frustrated doing so.

I reckon Dunnes at Briarhill have done a good job there. Traffic generally isin't bad at that roundabout (Except coming out past the race course at rush hour) but people from Renmore, Ballybrit, Monivea, Claregalway etc. etc. can do their weeks (food) shopping without having to come into town and pretty much avoid the traffic

ScumLord

As long as your not doing a whole heap of shopping eyre square is easy enough to get parking (because of the docks carpark behind it. I'm not atall against town centre shopping centres.

Karl Hungus

randylonghorn wrote: »

Aye, coz we really need another temple to the newest religion: consumerism! :rolleyes:

That's hardly a new religion.

cornbb

Shopping centres are dull, lifeless, soul-sucking, scum-attracting hellholes. The last thing any city needs is more shopping centres.

Although a Tesco on the west side of town would be handy

r3nu4l

cornbb wrote: »

Shopping centres are dull, lifeless, soul-sucking, scum-attracting hellholes. The last thing any city needs is more shopping centres.

Actually the last thing any city needs is another shopping centre with the same shops that are to be found in every other shopping centre in the country. Something different for a change would be nice.

Timmymaggot

The city needs a nice modern tesco like every other half decent town in Ireland has.

biko

What's needed imo is more small shops so the city centre doesn't get emptied out by the big shopping centres/UK chain stores. A large, central car park would do the trick so city centre shops could be accessed better.

r3nu4l

biko wrote: »

What's needed imo is more small shops so the city centre doesn't get emptied out by the big shopping centres/UK chain stores.

I agree with this!

biko wrote:

A large, central car park would do the trick so city centre shops could be accessed better.

WTF? Yeah, a large multi-story car park slap bang in the middle of the city is what's needed alright. Don't worry about clogging up the city with cars just model the city on Dublin! That's the trick. Where is this car park to go? Eyre Square? /sarcasm

I'm a Dub and I'd hate to see this happen to Galway. Believe me there is nothing more frustrating than having to drive in Dublin City Centre, negotiating pedestrians, buses and cyclists while trying to get to a car park in rush hour No, a large, central car park is a rubbish idea.

A park and ride system on the other hand is a great idea and works brilliantly in Cambridge.

fruitbat

I love shopping in Galway. I love the fact that not everything is the same place and it forces my lazy ass to walk around town. I love the fact that not every shop is in some anonymous out-of-town shopping centre, with artifical light and piped crappy music and labyrinth type multistory car parks that you have to drive around for half an hour to find a space and walk around longer to then find your car. Galway is fantastic for shopping, it has enough of the high street crap to get your basics and enough independents to keep you interested while you trudge through nasty chain stores, complete with artifical light, air, and (sometimes) artifical salespeople.

Galway is fantastic. But it does need some public transport so I can leave my car at home and enjoy walking around the city a bit more.

One more thing - whats wrong with the parking? I never have a problem parking in Galway.

l3LoWnA

fruitbat wrote: »

I love shopping in Galway. I love the fact that not everything is the same place and it forces my lazy ass to walk around town.

I too love Galway, I agree I have no problem parking in town and I love the buzz from Eyre square right down to jurys, the atmosphere and some of the shops aswell and I would certainly love waltzing around town from street to street and shop to shop if I didn't have a child with me and/or if I had oodles of time to do so. However, I'm always busy and as a busy single mum (there's plenty of us and other busy busy people out there these days) I would be extremely happy if there was a massive modern one-stop-shop near or on the outskirts of Galway to do all my shopping comfortably and conveniently.

The city centre is a lovely place to go for a walk-about (especially with children) and to catch up with friends for coffee or a drink OR even to pop in on your own to go shopping (I used to do alot of shopping on my lunch-breaks when I worked on eyre square and that was fine, because I was already there). I'm just saying the convenience of a modern, spacious muti-functional shopping centre plus retail park type thing would be well appreciated and would do very well in the West!

Just my opinion of course!

Of course, city centre traders might have huge objections to this sort of development in case it would take any business away from them! That sort of thing already went on in Sligo, a huge amount of restrictions were slapped on a new retail park outside of the town because the ctown centre monopoly of traders objected so strongly to business being taken out of town. Argos can't even come to Sligo now because of it!! They were not allowed into the said retail park!

leninbenjamin

one thing i find about the city center is that, in recent years the diversity of the shops have just really gone down, largely due to the phenomenal rents smaller outfits face, so only the big chains can afford it. a major shopping center will hopefully put some pressure on the chains by allowing smaller local outfits a foot in the door say, and perhaps add to the diversity in the town center again by putting competition on the rates...

personally i'd hope it'd lead to the generic big name chains moving out of town to larger premises offering better selections, while at the same time allowing for more local and niche shops in the centre to allow some of the character to return. perhaps that's wishful thinking though.

edit:

l3LoWnA wrote: »

Of course, city centre traders might have huge objections to this sort of development in case it would take any business away from them! That sort of thing already went on in Sligo, a huge amount of restrictions were slapped on a new retail park outside of the town because the ctown centre monopoly of traders objected so strongly to business being taken out of town. Argos can't even come to Sligo now because of it!! They were not allowed into the said retail park!

think Joyces used the same tactics here in Knocknacarra. it took ages to get any kind of retail development here. they'd object to everything on behalf of the small local businesses or some****e... hugely ironic.

ErnieBert

ScumLord wrote: »

They're building a few new ones around the city. There's a new one going up out near the Clybaun hotel. It'll be big shops like B&Q. And isn't there another one going up near ballybrit?

Next are opening in Knocknacarra in January - it will be fice times bigger than the one in town. Also heard that Argos are opening in Knocnacarra too.

snubbleste

Anyone get a 'till spit' from Tesco recently?
Got one this morning along with my receipt, very suprised to say the least..it's just an additional receipt printed with a barcode on it, For €6 off a €30 shop until Nov 4th
That's great!

I think it's a response to Dunnes opening two new branches..

Madge

snubbleste wrote: »

Anyone get a 'till spit' from Tesco recently?
I think it's a response to Dunnes opening two new branches..

Speaking of Tesco, is the one in the Galway Retail Park (in the shopping centre) the only one in the City? It seems really small. The Sligo one is massive compared to it.
Where else can you do grocery shopping?
Where are the 2 new Dunnes branches?

Sorry for all the questions but I'm moving there soon and not entirely familiar with the place yet!
Thanks!

ErnieBert

Madge wrote: »

Speaking of Tesco, is the one in the Galway Retail Park (in the shopping centre) the only one in the City? It seems really small. The Sligo one is massive compared to it.
Where else can you do grocery shopping?
Where are the 2 new Dunnes branches?

Sorry for all the questions but I'm moving there soon and not entirely familiar with the place yet!
Thanks!

Tesco were turned down to build a new store in Ballybrit. The one on the Headford Road will soon be extended as they have bought out the old Atlantic Homecare shop next door as Atlantic moved to a bigger location. Funny enough, Superquinn bought a site in Knocknacarra but got so much grief from the locals, that they bailed out before a brick was laid.

The two new Dunnes Stores are in Briarhill (off the N6 dual carragieway, a few hundred meters from the Racecourse) and the other new branch is in Knocknacarra (off the Western Distributor road - beside B&Q).

There are also Dunnes in Westside, Terryland, Eyre Square (2 diferent shops) and Edward Sq (off Shop St).

Tesco is handy because you can book online and they will deliver for a fiver. Well, handy for a lazy bastard like me:D

Mike...

ErnieBert wrote: »

Superquinn bought a site in Knocknacarra but got so much grief from the locals, that they bailed out before a brick was laid.

WTF!!!
Superquinn are deadly...bit pricey but its a really good experience I have had everytime I shopped in SQuinn

leninbenjamin

ErnieBert wrote: »

Funny enough, Superquinn bought a site in Knocknacarra but got so much grief from the locals, that they bailed out before a brick was laid.

not from these locals. everyone I know would have taken another shopping centre other than Dunnes in a heartbeat. we were ragin'

Joyce's had a huge influence in preventing them if what i heard was true.

Jammyd

ErnieBert wrote: »

Next are opening in Knocknacarra in January - it will be fice times bigger than the one in town. Also heard that Argos are opening in Knocnacarra too.

Hey were did you here bout this....

ErnieBert

Jammyd wrote: »

Hey were did you here bout this....

I know someone who works for Next in Galway since it opened here, she told me about the new branch. She will be moving to the new branch when it opens.

I can't remember where I heard about Argos.