Herberton Commercial Units

lynsalot

Hi Guys

I live in the Herberton development on St James Walk.

I've recently found out that the planned commercial units vendors (Think it was Tesco express) have pulled out. Therefore at the moment there are no plans for these units to be occupied. There's so many units with so much space and IMO a huge need within the area for a supermarket.

I wondered if anyone else felt the same? Would it be an idea for the residents and for ppl around the area to perhaps lobby together to make something happen? I grew up not far away and my mother has to walk to Crumlin shopping centre when I know she'd prefer to come around this direction as it's closer. I could probably name 30/40 ppl off hand right now who feel the same.

irlrobins

Lobby all you want. Yes, there might be demand for a shop, but it's not going to make a retailer sign a lease unless they think it's a viable commercially. And as banks are not lending as easily to businesses, it's unlike someone will be able to start up a new premises there.

Victor

Might a co-op on a soft lease be an option?

lynsalot

Thanks guys - Please ignore my ignorance, but with a co op surely you'd need capital to invest?? The units aren't decorated at all. They're basically concrete shells. Where would the residents get the money needed to set up a co op?

D3PO

id be wary of even looking at setting up a co-op if larger retailers like Tesco have backtracked theres usually a viable business reason for it.

Victor

D3PO wrote: »

id be wary of even looking at setting up a co-op if larger retailers like Tesco have backtracked theres usually a viable business reason for it.

Rent.

jdivision

yep, what victor said. The landlord is clearly not offering terms that make sense to retailers.

irlrobins

Speculation. Could be many reasons why the retailer didn't go ahead. Perhaps the fact that many of the apts are still empty was a factor.

D3PO

irlrobins wrote: »

Speculation. Could be many reasons why the retailer didn't go ahead. Perhaps the fact that many of the apts are still empty was a factor.

absolutely could be many reasons its fair to say that one of the key decisions houwever would be around the profitability of such a venture.

investors invest when theres money to be made

oceanclub

It also doesn't make sense for a retailer to set up in a, let's face it, depressed inner city suburbn, only a few Luas stops from the city. The "village" waffled on the Herberton website always sounded like bull**** to me.

P.

havana

oceanclub wrote: »

It also doesn't make sense for a retailer to set up in a, let's face it, depressed inner city suburbn, only a few Luas stops from the city. The "village" waffled on the Herberton website always sounded like bull**** to me.

P.

Yeah cos we all want to head into to town for the bread, milk and paper in the morning! There are spars and centras every few feet there days. Suprised none of them are opening.

oceanclub

havana wrote: »

Yeah cos we all want to head into to town for the bread, milk and paper in the morning! There are spars and centras every few feet there days. Suprised none of them are opening.

How many commercials units are there, and how big are they? A corner shop would suffice for what you mention.

P.

havana

Yes a corner shop. Like spar (",)I do think It's unfortunate that there seem to be no plans for a decent sized shop there. The ones available in crumlin are awful in my opinion and supermarkets in town tend to be lousy. The area in general is in bad need of a supermarket. Lidl on cork st is handy at least.

lynsalot

Thta's my point exactly. The nearest supermarket is in crumlin and it's not great. We drive to superquinn but because we're not minted we also go to lidl the odd time. It's in dire need of a convenience store. There's a few outlets, that would lend itself to an express supermarket (tesco, supervalu, eurospar etc) a chemist, a cafe, or maybe ever a restaurant.

Depressed? haha what's depressed about it? The other block is full of students and block B is about 80% full from the looks of it. that's about 100 apartments - ranging from one to three bedrooms. The residents in the area, and surrounding area. My parents live over beside James' hospital on the rialto side and are in dire need of a supermarket. Look at the gym and the membership that's taken off there. The place is doing really well and it's only open 6 months.

The nearest "corner" shop is Mace, Centra or Spar in James' St which is all good and well but a bit of a walk when u run out of milk and frankly a pain in the hole. I'd shop in town and drag the stuff home if I'm stuck. I know where I'd be spending my money if I had the option. I don't understand comments about the area being depressed. What's wrong with it? I've lived here for a year and it's fine and I've grown up 5 mins away for 26 years. The idea of getting the luas into town for a pint of milk cracks me up. Sure we'll just head out in our pyjamas like the rest of dublin on a sunday morning for the paper, say hello to all the culchies at heuston on the way haha

jdivision

:rolleyes:

irlrobins wrote: »

Speculation. Could be many reasons why the retailer didn't go ahead. Perhaps the fact that many of the apts are still empty was a factor.

So the rent quoted was too high given the number of people living there:rolleyes:

havana

Apparently tesco express has opened up just before dolphin's barn bridge

ManAboutCouch

lynsalot wrote: »

The nearest "corner" shop is Mace, Centra or Spar in James' St which is all good and well but a bit of a walk when u run out of milk and frankly a pain in the hole.

I think you might want to explore the area a bit more if you're heading all the way over to James' St. for your milk. There is a large Spar at the bottom of Reuben St. (on Cork St.) which is a 2 minute walk from Herberton. There is also a Centra in Rialto which is about a 5 minute walk.

There is also a Tesco Express and a Lidl on Cork St. so the general area is well enough served with retail. If you're interested in slightly more upscale shopping I can recommend Ennis Butchers in Rialto (next to the Centra), excellent meats, fish, veg and the usual (and unusual) foodie items, some of it a bit pricey, very nice staff in there too. The coffee shop next door does pretty good cakes and bread, but their coffee is muck.

I would be very surprised if any of the retail units in the Herberton scheme open in the next few years - there are empty units the entire length of Cork St. which have a much larger passing trade.