Any word on new shops etc coming to limerick

cathyb03

Just walking down bedford lane today and things shaping up nicely. Pamela Scott's womens clothes shop has a unit reserved but beside this and M&S coming to the crescent sc in 2009 does anyone know of or hear any rumour about any new business coming to town?;) Thanks!

Poxyshamrock

Tom Tailor is opening on Bedford Row and apparently so is Tommy Hilfiger!

talkingclock

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

Tom Tailor is opening on Bedford Row and apparently so is Tommy Hilfiger!

is that one not just around the corner beside Savins?

Poxyshamrock

talkingclock wrote: »

is that one not just around the corner beside Savins?

Timberland?

talkingclock

you're right!
taylor, tommy H, timberland... getting old...

bazz26

Parkway Valley shopping centre construction is gathering pace on the Dublin Road. There are six large fixed cranes on the site these days. Bound to be some interesting shops going into that place as the site looks huge.

1huge1

Opera centre should finally be getting under way within the coming months

talk about demoloshing the original parkway building.

M&S have also been talking about about a food only store in the city centre.

more will come to me

steveon

Isnt their suppose to be an ice rink going into where the parkway valley place??

1huge1

steveon wrote: »

Isnt their suppose to be an ice rink going into where the parkway valley place??

ya heard that alright, not sure if it was just propaganda for the project though

though the more I think about it I say its true, the place is massive like

Im sure Limerick on Ice wont like this

bazz26

1huge1 wrote: »

talk about demoloshing the original parkway building.

Latest rumor is that they want to build a hotel on the site of the Parkway Shopping Centre.

talkingclock

ANOTHER one?????????????
there must be something like a tax incentive if you build a hotel...

Lanigamadan

I saw a Smyth's Toys flag flying by the entrance to the Ennis Road Retail Park (alongside Jetland) so I guess they may join the new petshop there.

Anyone got any idea what is next in the Coonagh Cross Centre? It was expected that the rest of it would open by Easter...

CerebralCortex

cathyb03 wrote: »

Just walking down bedford lane today and things shaping up nicely. Pamela Scott's womens clothes shop has a unit reserved but beside this and M&S coming to the crescent sc in 2009 does anyone know of or hear any rumour about any new business coming to town?;) Thanks!

I'd like to know when adequate public transportation is coming to Limerick?

--amadeus--

Aglomerado

--amadeus-- wrote: »

***ROFFLE***

han68

It has gone indeed very quiet on Coonagh Cross, have not seen anything about it anymore since Tesco opened. Would be nice to get an idea what is coming there. Hopefully not another Argos, Dunnes or Elvery's .... :eek:

Kess73

Lanigamadan wrote: »

Anyone got any idea what is next in the Coonagh Cross Centre? It was expected that the rest of it would open by Easter...

Thorthons chocolate are opening their second Limerick store there for Easter.

talkingclock

CerebralCortex wrote: »

I'd like to know when adequate public transportation is coming to Limerick?

not in our lifetime...

1huge1

--amadeus-- wrote: »

Trying to increase consumer spending?

Must say its working I have a sudden urge to go to Next

rockwell

heard on the radio this evening that limk city council are planning to object to m&s going into cresent as they don't want the people drawn out of the city centre as it will be bad for business!

--amadeus--

Good!

Walking through Limerick you could be in any regional UK town. Boots, Debenhams, Next, River Island, etc, etc. Compare that to Galway (for example) where Shop St & surrounds are brilliant. Really good atmosphere and it's like nowhere else - you could only be in the west of Ireland.

The pedestrianisation is a great idea and it's starting to look really well (despite the chain stores), some nice locally owned shops, couple of cafes, that market on Sunday mornings (or has that now been abandoned?). There is a huge amount left to do but the City centre has the seeds of something that people might want to visit.

But they keep throwing up these bloody great "retail parks" on teh outskirts of towm. How many big box units does a small town need? And all of these UK multiples suck footfall and money away from the smaller, independent shops and the city centre.

I'll put on my flame proof suit now

1huge1

I fail to see the point in mentioning that there UK shops, so what if they are? they've brought so much consumer choice to this country.

And I would much rather shop in Limerick over Galway any day the choice here is far superior and yes the pedestrianisation is a great idea no doubt there as long as they manage the traffic levels and dont shove everything onto henry street.

And I'd hardly call the crescent a retail park, its been in our city (not a small town as you stated) for over 30 years now and for the time being its our only chance for getting a proper M&S (sorry if the fact that its a UK store annoys you) for the time being.

Anyway isnt the crescent far outside the city councils area?

Im all for the crescent expansion as long as they can manage traffic in the area, competition is good and in Limerick were getting a lot of growth poles in terms of shopping which im sure you'll all agree is for the best...

Now theres my rant over

--amadeus--

Like them or loathe them the likes of Galway, Cork and Dublin have a distinct character. Come to that a lot of the smaller towns do as well and not just in the tourist areas. Wouldn't you like to be proud of Limerick? Be able to point to things that make it different and unique (and helps drown out the reputation)

One of the US cities (San Franscisco?) has banned multiples / chain stores from opening in and around it's main historic centre. As a result smaller independent stores have opened that help retain the character of the city. In all the cities I've been in across Europe you see the same sort of thing - sure you have the McD's and the Starbucks but also a litle locality. Visit the likes of Oslo, Amsterdam, Berlin or any French town and you'll see what I mean.

And yes, the Cresent is a Shopping Centre, not a retail park. But it's still an out of town retail centre that sucks life out of teh city centre. And everyone is so in thrall to the idea of M&S that we'll be like lemmings. All we need next is a bloody IKEA and you can board up O'Connell St. And you have a point - the fragmented planning hardly helps - one small urban area that falls under the control of three seperate juristictions hardly makes for joined up thinking.

(And City or town is semantics - it may be a city in local terms but it's just a town by objective standards)

vkid

Personally i think Galway has been destroyed character wise in the last few years. Some seriously ugly devlopments and the real character of Galway is gone. Shop St is a shadow of what it was imo. Choice wise shopping in Galway is very limited. Its retail core is tiny

Cork is very similar to Limerick. English Market is lovely but city centre wise nothing else really stands out..Patrick St is ok,nothign special. Its also full of out of town shopping centres and retail parks..

Dublin..well Dublin is Dublin..good and bad aspects to shopping. One thing they do have in spades is choice.

Limerick isnt perfect, far from it but ill make my decision on the place in about 5 years time when all the planned devlopments are finished..until then it doesnt make any sense to judge..when half of it is closed for future devlopment

vkid

Ps i also think its a good thing that the city council is objecting to an extension of the Crescent. That place is big enough already imo

--amadeus--

I haven't spent a huge amount of time in Galway in the last few years, after living there for a while but even from the hops I've taken it's obvious it's changed. Still the nicest feeling big town / city in the country though. I see where you are coming from with Cork - I suppose my point is that there is a different feel to Dublin / Cork / Galway. They have the chains but they also have that bit of individuality, be it Temple Bar (tourist trap but nice to wander round on a Sunday afternoon) or the English Market or Shop Street they have a city centre focal point that people want to go to and spend time (and money) in.

Limerick doesn't have that (yet) and it has a generic feel to it, Cruises Street feels like it has been dropped in from Preston or somewhere, bland, totally nondescript and lacking in anything really interesting.

The pedestrianisation project and regeneration of teh riverfront / Bedfor Row, etc are brilliant. Given time, money and commitment they could be the focal point that Limerick lacks. But it will only happen if it's commercially viable - these huge out of town shopping centres and retail parks threaten to kill the project before it has taken root.

Amazotheamazing

--amadeus-- wrote: »

I haven't spent a huge amount of time in Galway in the last few years, after living there for a while but even from the hops I've taken it's obvious it's changed. Still the nicest feeling big town / city in the country though. I see where you are coming from with Cork - I suppose my point is that there is a different feel to Dublin / Cork / Galway. They have the chains but they also have that bit of individuality, be it Temple Bar (tourist trap but nice to wander round on a Sunday afternoon) or the English Market or Shop Street they have a city centre focal point that people want to go to and spend time (and money) in.

Limerick doesn't have that (yet) and it has a generic feel to it, Cruises Street feels like it has been dropped in from Preston or somewhere, bland, totally nondescript and lacking in anything really interesting.

The pedestrianisation project and regeneration of teh riverfront / Bedfor Row, etc are brilliant. Given time, money and commitment they could be the focal point that Limerick lacks. But it will only happen if it's commercially viable - these huge out of town shopping centres and retail parks threaten to kill the project before it has taken root.

I wouldn't disagree, but you have remember that Limerick was a city in decline until very recently. In a lot of ways, both Limerick and Cork suffered hugely from Irish Independence and the subsequent damage to trade with the UK.

In the 1980's parts of Limerick had unemployment levels of upwards of 80% and immigration was a massive problem (indeed, as it was with Cork).

Galway never suffered to the same extent as either Limerick and Cork as it's main "industry" was tourism and related to the university, it also lacked the large council estates that both Limerick and Cork have. While parts of Galway city was poor, it was akin to a rural poor as opposed to urban poor, (incidentally, the council estates on the West side of Dublin are populated with people who have their origins in Galway/Mayo etc)

It is only recently that Limerick and Cork have turned things around, Cork obviously moreso than Limerick. In the late 1980's, Cork was every bit as empty as parts of Limerick currently are, the regeneration that Limerick is only starting has been a massive success in Cork and we have every reason to suppose it will be as successful in Limerick.

However, it is undeniable that Limerick already has many things going for it, it has better shopping than Galway, the university is adding glamour courses like medicine and architecture which will bring a different dimension to academic life in the city, the art college campus is being integrated onto one site, the city centre pedestrianisation, and of course, the huge regeneration of the council estates.

Of course, the city has a huge way to go, but there's no need to be negative about where the city is going.

--amadeus--

We're drifting a bit OT, but anyway...

I suppose teh charge that could be levelled at Limerick is that the nettle wasn't grasped early enough. Galway had serious problems with the area around and including the Rahoon flats. They realised thatthey weren't going to change things without infrastructural changes and they levelled the whole place years ago (back in the late 90s wasn't it?). Now obviously Southill and Moyross are much, much larger but why has it taken until now for the light bulb to go on that redevelopment is the answer?

Nor do I want to be seen as negative about the developments - I'm 100% behind structured, planned development and I think that the changes you mention are long overdue and very, very welcome.

My main bone of contention is with the disjointed planning in the city and environs. Corbally from Shannon Banks out is Clare Co Council and great swathes of the city fall under Limerick Co Council. So you get 1000's of houses being built in Westbury (approved by Clare Co Council) with one congested entry road running past a school that effectivly closes the road from 8:30 onwards (traffic "managed" by Limerick City). You have big box retail parks popping up like mushrooms around the Old Tipp road, out the Dublin Road, planned retail devlopments by the Roxboro SC and a huge extension of the Crescent SC (all approved by Limerick Co Co) that will economically endanger and compete with the huge and expensive redevelopments planned by the City Co.

There is only so much space on teh road and only so many shoppers / shops. With the downturn and the volume of retail space open and planned it seems inevitable that we'll end up with retail parks with a couple of beleagured anchor tenents and lots of empty units and they'll degenerate from there - look at the one out the Dock Road where Arrowmount furniture is, that's the future of some of these developments and that's not good for anyone.

By all means plan, build and develop but is it too much to ask for a little integration?

Amazotheamazing

--amadeus-- wrote: »

We're drifting a bit OT, but anyway...

I suppose teh charge that could be levelled at Limerick is that the nettle wasn't grasped early enough. Galway had serious problems with the area around and including the Rahoon flats. They realised thatthey weren't going to change things without infrastructural changes and they levelled the whole place years ago (back in the late 90s wasn't it?). Now obviously Southill and Moyross are much, much larger but why has it taken until now for the light bulb to go on that redevelopment is the answer?

Nor do I want to be seen as negative about the developments - I'm 100% behind structured, planned development and I think that the changes you mention are long overdue and very, very welcome.

My main bone of contention is with the disjointed planning in the city and environs. Corbally from Shannon Banks out is Clare Co Council and great swathes of the city fall under Limerick Co Council. So you get 1000's of houses being built in Westbury (approved by Clare Co Council) with one congested entry road running past a school that effectivly closes the road from 8:30 onwards (traffic "managed" by Limerick City). You have big box retail parks popping up like mushrooms around the Old Tipp road, out the Dublin Road, planned retail devlopments by the Roxboro SC and a huge extension of the Crescent SC (all approved by Limerick Co Co) that will economically endanger and compete with the huge and expensive redevelopments planned by the City Co.

There is only so much space on teh road and only so many shoppers / shops. With the downturn and the volume of retail space open and planned it seems inevitable that we'll end up with retail parks with a couple of beleagured anchor tenents and lots of empty units and they'll degenerate from there - look at the one out the Dock Road where Arrowmount furniture is, that's the future of some of these developments and that's not good for anyone.

By all means plan, build and develop but is it too much to ask for a little integration?

Define "early enough"? The estates only got very bad in the mid 1990's.

I agree about the too many competing local authorities, but city have tried numerous times to reason with the County council and Clare over effective admin of the area.

With regard to the shopping centres, it's too early to see just how great the oversupply is, I suspect there is some, but not a massive amount, Limerick's greater catchment area is huge, something like 700,000 people live within an hours drive of Limerick.

ongarboy

rockwell wrote: »

heard on the radio this evening that limk city council are planning to object to m&s going into cresent as they don't want the people drawn out of the city centre as it will be bad for business!

This is exactly what happened in Tralee. M&S were about to move in to a ready to go unit at Manor West Retail Park on the edge of Tralee town but Tralee Town Council voted against it. There was uproar among citizens and local media with polls conducted by local radio showing 100% support for the dept store as it would also create 100 jobs. But no, the local council objected as they claimed it would hurt local business owners in the town centre. Instead M&S are moving to Killarney and will open there in a couple of months. So Tralee loses out as the shoppers will instead go to Killarney rather than Tralee town centre.

rebs23

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Define "early enough"? The estates only got very bad in the mid 1990's.

I agree about the too many competing local authorities, but city have tried numerous times to reason with the County council and Clare over effective admin of the area.

With regard to the shopping centres, it's too early to see just how great the oversupply is, I suspect there is some, but not a massive amount, Limerick's greater catchment area is huge, something like 700,000 people live within an hours drive of Limerick.

Limerick has had massive retail development on the outskirts, more than any other Irish City (excluding Dublin). Something like 150,000 sq m under construction/planning or just completed. It probably has more suburban centres than Cork and Galway combined.

As for being able to accomodate all of that, the population statistic of 700,000 seems to be a gross exaggeration when you consider the pop of the whole of the Mid West is 360,000 (Limerick County,City, Clare County and North Tipp). You must be including half of Cork to get you anywhere near the 700,000 or even part of Galway? I would hazard a guess and say that the vast majority of Cork and Galway people do not or would not even consider travelling to Limerick for their shopping so the potential of Limerick having 700,000 people in its catchment area is non existent.

Contrast that with the fact that there are 500,000 people living in Cork City and County (350,000 living within 15km of the city centre) and 230,000 living in Galway City and County. Those figures would not include people in Mayo & Clare who live within an hour of Galway and do their shopping there and the people living in South Kerry, South Limerick and Waterford that are within an hour of Cork city.

It will be interesting to see over time the effect of the massive retail development in Limericks suburbs. By contrast in Cork there are two massive City Centre Shopping Centres under construction and a planned conference/event centre. Unfortunately Limerick City Centre seems to be under threat from suburban development. There is also the added problem of not enough night time venues and cultural activities available in the city centre. Unfortunately everything is in the suburbs.