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

UrbanSea

Culchie wrote: »

Colemans going alright

Is that confirmed?

Culchie

greetings wrote: »

Is that confirmed?

from what I know ..... 99.9%

bobcar61

Where or what is Colemans?

sungem

the electrical shop on stephen street.. i think

blackiebest

Christ thats sad, Been there at least 40 years and PJ was reputed to be one of Sligo's millionaire's, 30 years ago! Guess the time was up long ago for this type of shop but certainly sad to see it gone, most 40year olds will have cycled out of Colemans at some point on their new bike.:mad:

Son Of A Vidic

Not in my 40's yet, but indeed I did cycle my first bike out of Coleman's. It was an institution in Sligo, will anything be left ffs.

Stevedore

Corner Shop on Upper John Street closed, Moffats will close this year

Basq

Stevedore wrote: »

Corner Shop on Upper John Street closed, Moffats will close this year

Can't picture that corner shop at all..!

TequilaMockingBird

Is it Veritas perhaps?

UrbanSea

TequilaMockingBird wrote: »

Is it Veritas perhaps?

No its the 'Corner Shop' that's at the maugheraboy side on the bottom of wolfe tone street,across from o'neills pub and st.michael's.

Basq

greetings wrote: »

No its the 'Corner Shop' that's at the maugheraboy side on the bottom of wolfe tone street,across from o'neills pub and st.michael's.

Ahhh.. Bill's, wasn't it?

Essexboy

blackiebest wrote: »

Christ thats sad, Been there at least 40 years and PJ was reputed to be one of Sligo's millionaire's, 30 years ago! Guess the time was up long ago for this type of shop but certainly sad to see it gone, most 40year olds will have cycled out of Colemans at some point on their new bike.:mad:

He never accepted credit or debit cards!

Buford T Justice

basquille wrote: »

Ahhh.. Bill's, wasn't it?

Jaysis, Bill is closing shop? Whats the world coming to at all... I mean, where can one go on Christmas day now for overpriced batteries?

Seriously, €1.50 for one AA battery........

TequilaMockingBird

Fingers McGee wrote: »

Jaysis, Bill is closing shop? Whats the world coming to at all... I mean, where can one go on Christmas day now for overpriced batteries?

Seriously, €1.50 for one AA battery........

It was 50c for the battery and €1 Stupid Tax for forgetting to get the right batteries before Christmas morning. Fair enough I think...

UrbanSea

Essexboy wrote: »

He never accepted credit or debit cards!

Coleman's isn't closing due to liquidation,he is retiring.

Japer

Stevedore wrote: »

Corner Shop on Upper John Street closed, Moffats will close this year

Is Moffats that biggish shop in the middle of O'Connell street you mean ? Do you have info it will close this year, or is it just a guess ? In fairness, it could be damaging to a businesses reputation saying it will close, if there are no grounds for such a statement. A rumour could spread and damage or cost peoples jobs.

Janine87

I have seen that "nameit" the children clothes shop in Johnston Court is temporary closed. Now, I dont know if that is still the case though.

Essexboy

greetings wrote: »

Coleman's isn't closing due to liquidation,he is retiring.

Won't his nephew continue the business?

Buford T Justice

Essexboy wrote: »

Won't his nephew continue the business?

Exactly. If it's a profitable business then it doesn't make sense to close it down. He should have someone else run it. All the shops that are closing these days and he's still doing well. he's lucky.

Granted he doesn't need the money, but the business should stay running

UrbanSea

Essexboy wrote: »

Won't his nephew continue the business?

Just saying what I'm aware of.

Culchie

Fingers McGee wrote: »

Exactly. If it's a profitable business then it doesn't make sense to close it down. He should have someone else run it. All the shops that are closing these days and he's still doing well. he's lucky.

Granted he doesn't need the money, but the business should stay running

Maybe he wants to cash in his chips, and quit while ahead?

From what I can see the town centre is getting very badly hit. I know of 3-4 business relocations/start ups in Collooney and that is going to be the trend (in my opinion) .... away from the town centre.

Japer

Culchie wrote: »

I know of 3-4 business relocations/start ups in Collooney and that is going to be the trend (in my opinion) .... away from the town centre.

You must be joking, the trend continues away from Collooney, to the extent most of the units out there are empty, were never occupied and will never be occupied. ( except maybe by Nama and the odd ghost from the graveyard next door ! ). There were a few businesses which had agencies and which done well in town for years, but when they moved to Coolooney they ceased doing well, for whatever reason. The motorbike place, the electrical shop, the fiat garage....of these three which closed down in Coolooney, the electrical shop opened again in town, where the people are.

Culchie

Japer wrote: »

You must be joking, the trend continues away from Collooney, to the extent most of the units out there are empty, were never occupied and will never be occupied. ( except maybe by Nama and the odd ghost from the graveyard next door ! ). There were a few businesses which had agencies and which done well in town for years, but when they moved to Coolooney they ceased doing well, for whatever reason. The motorbike place, the electrical shop, the fiat garage....of these three which closed down in Coolooney, the electrical shop opened again in town, where the people are.

No I am not joking....why so defensive anyway? It is was simple comment.

There will be 3 if not 4 very good businesses/organisations opening up in these 'ghost' units within the next 2/3 months (fact)....and I think that will be just the start of it.

Theses units were built at the peak, their landlords have most probably seen (or made seen) sense and they probably make financial sense now that the rents have dropped significantly.

Location is great for a business, 90% of commercial traffic passes the units, and ample car parking.

Japer

Culchie wrote: »

There will be 3 if not 4 very good businesses/organisations opening up in these 'ghost' units within the next 2/3 months (fact)....

Who ?

In one estate there there are no occupants, in another estate there only seems to be one occupant etc. If it could not sustain or attract any purchasers or tenants during the boom years, never mind passing traffic, what hope is there now ?

Incidentally, on the radio today it was discussing nama etc, how the country has been ruined and how the developers of ghost estates like that may be made bulldoze the place down. As it said on the radio we all can see in hindsight its a pity so many were built with borrowed money in the first place, especially in previously pictureque towns and villages, which never saw the scale of such "development" before.

Has the motorbike / lawnmower place closed down or just relocated back to Sligo ? - I know someone needing a lawnmower repaired soon. If its gone, maybe that KG tools place - across the road in Sligo from where McDonaghs has relocated to - will do it.

Culchie

Japer wrote: »

Who ?

In one estate there there are no occupants, in another estate there only seems to be one occupant etc. If it could not sustain or attract any purchasers or tenants during the boom years, never mind passing traffic, what hope is there now ?

Has the motorbike / lawnmower place closed down or just relocated back to Sligo ? - I know someone needing a lawnmower repaired soon. If its gone, maybe that KG tools place - across the road in Sligo from where McDonaghs has relocated to - will do it.

In fairness everyone is entitled to an opinion, but if you then back it up with incorrect assertions, it does nothing for your case.

I don't know which individual estates you are on about ... but the GWI estate has Signs Express, Avenue Mould, Walkers Crisps, Callaghan Forklifts (ex Changing Rooms part section), Palatine Transport, the Court Service, RSS Data Storage, Sligo Kitchen Centre, Sligo Freeze Chill, Arramount Furniture and 2 more on the way.

Northwest Park has Ocean FM, PMMS, Komandor, Nordex Energy, DMac, Orbicon, Tilesavers, I-Think technology and the Headquarters of Gulf Oil, (a fastly expanding oil company)....and at least 3 more on the way.

Toberbride has Guinness, CSS Catering, CK Monumentals, Funny Bones ATS Automation and Fenton Fires with future builds in the pipeline.

So, none of the estates are empty and none of the estates has only one tenant.

Sligo Motorbike Centre - heard couple of different things regarding this....including opening up on Bundoran Rd again. Don't think that unit will be vacant too long anyway from what I can see.

I think your assessment of Collooney as a commercial area will be proved wrong, only time will tell....but if you have to argue your point of view, back it up with something concrete.

Japer

Culchie wrote: »

So, none of the estates are empty and none of the estates has only one tenant.

What about the last estate on the right ( the one nearly opposite the graveyard ) ? None quite recently anyway as far as I know.

On the other side of the main road, how many empty units are in that estate beside Arromount ?

And in the development on the other side of the small road, the row of units starting where the motorbike place used to be, all appear empty except for Signs Express. There does not seem to be cars or signs of activity at any others.

In Dublin at least the estates seem to have 50% occupancy or more, there are not that many empty commercial units which were never occupied. In Sligo when places close they tend not to take down the signs ( look at Carraroe, or even at Collooney ) but when you call to the business or look at the empty car park or better still look in the window that tells a lot. When a place is valued much less that it cost to build, and its lying empty since it was built, like its neighbours - thats why the banks are in trouble and Nama was set up. I hope the units left there survive. Some have said some units in Collooney are valued @ 10% of their construction cost and there are units there that will never be occupied. In Leitrim many of the apartments and houses there are also unoccupied and should never have been built. Anyway we are all entitled to our opinions - if you think Sligos commercial heart should be located seven miles from Sligo then you are entitled to that opinion. Building so many empty units was not a great move, just like building all the empty apartments in other villages and towns in the n. west. It said on the radio some may end up bulldozed yet. Every time I vist Collooney or Sligo more businesses seem to have closed, which is a shame. Reducing rates in the 6 border counties may be a good idea..that was talked about recently too. Are rates ( payable to the local authorities ) cheaper in Collooney than in Sligo - I do not know. It may be a factor. The border county businesses seem to be hit harder by cross border trade and the recession that those further from the border. My point was there were some retail businesses ( eg the motorbike place, the electrical shop, the fiat garage.. ).which done well in town for years, but when they moved to Collooney they ceased doing well, for whatever reason....so moving to Coolooney does not solve a businesses problems ; if anything , the opposite is true, which is only natural considering the footfall and population and critical mass in Sligo compared to Collooney. Anyway lets hope very few if any more businesses close in either Collooney or Sligo. No doubt in time Nama will decide what to do with some of the empty buildings around the country.

Stevedore

Japer wrote: »

Is Moffats that biggish shop in the middle of O'Connell street you mean ? Do you have info it will close this year, or is it just a guess ? In fairness, it could be damaging to a businesses reputation saying it will close, if there are no grounds for such a statement. A rumour could spread and damage or cost peoples jobs.

I don't think someone posting on an obscure internet forum is going to close a business or put jobs at risk, keyboard warriors don't have that kind of power, but I was assured by a trustworthy person that it's true

Kepti

Stevedore wrote: »

I don't think someone posting on an obscure internet forum is going to close a business or put jobs at risk, keyboard warriors don't have that kind of power, but I was assured by a trustworthy person that it's true

If anything, it might entice some people in looking for bargains.

Essexboy

It does not look for Sligo's long-awaited (:rolleyes:) shopping centre which has been promised since 2002.

Treasury Holdings are to be bailed out by NAMA and " John Bruder, managing director, told The Irish Times last year that it expected “a lot, if not all” of its portfolio to move to Nama".
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0331/1224267400149.html

Maybe the centre's opening will coincide with the opening of the town's much needed public toilet!

Culchie

Essexboy wrote: »

It does not look for Sligo's long-awaited (:rolleyes:) shopping centre which has been promised since 2002.

Treasury Holdings are to be bailed out by NAMA and " John Bruder, managing director, told The Irish Times last year that it expected “a lot, if not all” of its portfolio to move to Nama".
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0331/1224267400149.html

Maybe the centre's opening will coincide with the opening of the town's much needed public toilet!

Well, NAMA will probably look at it ... if they think it's a viable project they will proceed.
The fact that no construction as commenced, and that there is no demand (or disposable income) in the region, it's highly unlikely this is a runner for the foreseeable future.