Balbriggan Shopping Centre

wow sierra

A friend who lives in Skerries got a random mailing €10 off if you spend €30. Nothing like that for us locals. I suppose if you were looking at this from a cold hard business point of view they are spot on. They can fairly much rely on their present customers and the locals in Balbriggan - its the outsiders/new customers they need to attract.
In fairness I hope Skerries/Rush people start shopping in Balbriggan instead of Swords. As regards attracting people away with opening offers it will work with some but a lot will stay with their previous shop. Unfortunately with the recession a lot of people will be happy with the cheapest option - thats just reality.

It might not be a popular view but I think the new Shopping Centre is a good thing for the town.

Eoineo

@tregan the manager is Brian Farrell. There is no email on any of the literature I received.

@Wow Sierra I am a local and I did receive that mailshot. A former employee told me yesterday that they target dormant & non-Tesco card holders with higher discounts than those who shop regularly. Which would make sense to me except I've received both.

Tesco will be trading from 8am on Monday with the centre itself opening at 11am by Mary Byrne. Supervalu will have Kevin Dundon who is the Chef from Dunbrody House and who has featured in a number of TV Series instore on Monday as well.

It'll be interesting to see how the traffic is managed once the traffic lights are turned on outside St George's School.

Jimdagym

We got the 4 x €10 vouchers today in the post to "the householder".
We are quite close to the centre, but Tecso would probably be the smallest reciever of our grocery shopping after Dunnes, S.V. and Superquinn, so perhaps they gauge it on clubcard points.

Bluetonic

I wonder how long it will take someone to come on here giving out about the location of Ladbrokes in the new shopping center. It's right at the front at the main entrance.

I think the whole place looks great.

Octopus

Bluetonic wrote: »

I wonder how long it will take someone to come on here giving out about the location of Ladbrokes in the new shopping center. It's right at the front at the main entrance.

I think the whole place looks great.

I think the location of the ladbrokes is a disgrace. Right at the front of the shopping centre. Tsk tsk.

I make that 4 minutes. :cool:

Bluetonic

Octopus wrote: »

I think the location of the ladbrokes is a disgrace. Right at the front of the shopping centre. Tsk tsk.

I make that 4 minutes. :cool:

Bored?

sgarvan

Layout

rccaulfield

Just heard that none of the stores bar tesco will be open on Monday! Some grand opening that'll be!

Eoineo

Similar to how it happened in Clare Hall if I remember rightly. I'm sure they will be moving in slowly but surely over the next few months.

FeargO

Does anyone know if there's a petrol station as part of the Tesco. Also got the weekly vouchers of €10 off €30 spend but there's no petrol exclusion on the back of the voucher.

Thanks

FeargO

dead air

FeargO wrote: »

Does anyone know if there's a petrol station as part of the Tesco. Also got the weekly vouchers of €10 off €30 spend but there's no petrol exclusion on the back of the voucher.

Thanks

FeargO

That would great! However I don't think the petrol station will be open until the summer unfortunately.

Posher

I wasn't at the opening myself but I heard it was very busy. A few of my friends went to it. Mary Byrne was a no show. Apparently she was stuck in the UK. I'd say there were a few disgruntled shoppers.;)

I'll pay a visit later in the week.:D

sgarvan

Didnt go myself as I was in work. Mary Byrne didnt make it because of fog in Bristol, well thats the excuse anyway

Some pictures here
http://www.balbriggan.info/Millfield_Balbriggan_official_opening_110411.shtml

Rashers72

I was up there around 8pm. Busy in the aisles, with about 5-10% of their special offers sold out. Not bad, considering they were probably mobbed earlier. On the food side, I actually think Clare Hall is bigger - more floor space, especially between the aisles.
I think they will need to rethink the space at the checkouts. After 3 trolleys, you are back into the aisles, which stops people 'rounding' them at the bottom. Should be ok, except at busy times.
Just my 2p!:)

irishinbriglol

Mary Byrne would have got to Dublin by air, quicker than it will now take hard-working Balbriggan residents (who are FORCED to drive past the badly-located monstrosity called Millfield now) to get home exiting from J6 M1 - now a half hour delay guaranteed on the Naul Road, as the bottle-neck they have contrructed [without a thought for the 1.51-a-litre local car-driving community... not to mention the unfortunate families of the unprotected graveyard that many will now take a cider-fuelled shortcut through, 24/7].
What a disaster it truly is - well done Fingal County Council - you greedy fools. Avoid the area at all costs at peak-times - gridlock guaranteed.

rccaulfield

Up there this afternoon, Mary Byrne didn't arrive till 5-6 hours late lol! Loadsa stores not open but plenty up and running contrary to what i'd heard. It's a basic shopping mall imo. Theres lots of to let signs in empty sites which doesn't look good! I spent a bit but wanted a sports shop and easons to be open to spend saved money and there was no sign of even future intention of them opening.
In the hour we were there, there was 6 teens restrained for shoplifting and an african guy picking on single women in the underground carpark looking for money. Theres no where to sit anywhere in the 2 floors and trolley bays were empty in tesco so had to go back outside to get one. I'll second the small isles and lack of checkout space aswell. Ladbrokes was empty outside and was well outta the way-sound like a pompous food critic here but this place might'nt do well.

irishinbriglol

irishinbriglol wrote: »

Mary Byrne would have got to Dublin by air, quicker than it will now take hard-working Balbriggan residents (who are FORCED to drive past the badly-located monstrosity called Millfield now) to get home exiting from J6 M1 - now a half hour delay guaranteed on the Naul Road, as the bottle-neck they have contrructed [without a thought for the 1.51-a-litre local car-driving community... not to mention the unfortunate families of the unprotected graveyard that many will now take a cider-fuelled shortcut through, 24/7].
What a disaster it truly is - well done Fingal County Council - you greedy fools. Avoid the area at all costs at peak-times - gridlock guaranteed.

More re traffic situ....

With no quick access by car to/from Millfield S.C. from the Bremore South/West side, (despite builder's and Fingal County Council promises of the badly needed relief road to Bremore, off the Naul Roundabout), local drivers will now avoid the area like the plague on their journeys home from the motorway side. Also, the road at the Millfield S. C. joke-roundabout, isn't wide enough to allow two large cars to pass each other safely - not to mention any other combination of trucks/vans/buses.

I regret to proclaim/predict that there will be many delaying incidents at that roundabout and approach 'road' over the coming weeks and months - wait until darkness and bad weather return !!.

Shopkeepers in Bremore, Balbriggan town and Swords should rejoice - it will be quicker to use the old Dublin Road in the future for most residents home journeys. This sort of planning would not be tolerated in any other country with efficient, well thought out planning laws.

tatli_lokma

took me just over 20 mins to get from the little roundabout outside the main entrance to the Harry Reymolds Road traffic lights yesterday - and that was at 4.00pm, so before 'peak' times.
The way the roads are narrowed in spaces is very dangerous IMO, and is purely due to laziness rather than any real reasoning. Its not done for traffic calming, but seems more like the builders just plonked the kerbs in, without really looking at the available space and the size of the road.
I'm dreading getting down that road at Christmas - it'll take me an hour just to get from the motorway to the traffic lights!
and it looks like there is a pedestrian crossing due to go in aswell at the main entrance roundabout!

I don't really see the need for vehicular access at that roundabout - would make more sense for all enty to be via the traffic lights at the school

Morpheus

I dont want to say I told you so.....

Bluetonic

One day is not a large enough sample to draw any conclusions.Lets see how things pan out over the next three months. Just a few months ago we had people crying foul of the no right turn on the square. People are very good at adapting. Only 13 years ago there were no traffic lights on the Naul Road, nor not even a Harry Reynolds Road. The town wasn't even bypassed. People went nuts when Quay Street was made one way when the Old Shopping Centre opened in the 1980s.

I wonder how you all will react when Chapel Street is made one way in a few months, most likely only in one way.

We are a great little town of moaners who love to overreact.

*awaits even more over reacting and moaning*

Eoineo

So if you want to travel to the North end of the Town then come off the M1 at Julianstown. As your car won't be idling or stuck in traffic you'll save on fuel. Likewise if you're heading South then come off at Walshestown.

Traffic will ease off after a month or 2. The vouchers that were issued to every householder mean that volumes of shoppers will be up for the first 4 weeks.

wow sierra

It is far too early to decide what traffic disruption will be like. I was delayed a good while getting home from work yesterday but I enjoyed looking at the people coming and going from the centre while I was stuck in traffic. If there were no traffic jams there these few days I would be worried - not the opposite
I haven't been there yet but from what I have heard it seems good. If the traffic is still bad in a few weeks time then it will need to be commented on - not now. And there were shoplifters??? Wow that is soooooo unusual:rolleyes: A bit of positivity please.

Eoineo

Got up there last night. There was no traffic, it was after rush hour & the Tesco itself was very busy.
While the clothes section upstairs is bright and airy, the grocery section downstairs I found very cluttered. I noticed there were less special offers than in a normal Tesco, apart from the €1 Easter Eggs that were flying off the shelves.

I'd recommend parking in the higher carpark, rather than the basement as the exit lane kerbing is tight. Also the large trolleys don't lock on the travellators which is grand if you can take the lifts but they weren't working very well yesterday. Not good if you've a trolley with heavy shopping in it.

Morpheus

Simple solution,

Avoid the traffic chaos of that place and support local business instead.

Bluetonic

Morphéus wrote: »

Simple solution,

Avoid the traffic chaos of that place and support local business instead.

I don't understand where this Millfield isn't a local business idea comes from? Local people work there, in Tesco and the other outlets. Some local people have leases in some of the outlets.

The other options for a large grocery shop is Supervalu or Lidl, however Luke Moriarty is no more a local than the people who have shares in Tesco plc. As for Lidl, local? No. The fact is many 'local' people most likely have pension funds which unknown to them hold shares in Tesco plc given it's relative strength.

What exactly is a local business?

thedeal

Agree with Bluetonic. This new centre will support a huge number of well needed jobs to the local people of Balbriggan which makes it as much of a "local business" as any other shop in Balbriggan, this place is not just Tesco, several smaller shops have opened and will open and this can be only good news for employment in the area.

Morpheus

well, my opinion is simple,

the middle of the town having any kind of commercial future is now past.

The whole main street is at risk of being abandoned with the exception of fast food outlets or pubs.

This shopping centre was not needed NOR wanted by most people that I know.

It would have been interesting to have conducted a poll to see what most balbrigganers thought about it going where it is.

On the one hand, even locating a business like this, where it is, makes absolutely zero sense.

To put it here, when we have TWO 24hr tescos in a 15 mile radius, drogheda and malahide road, both just off the M1, how is that sensible?

We have Pavilions and Scotch hall just 9 minutes either end of the M1 from balbriggan.

Im not happy about the place being where it is, progress in the name of the towns benefit is one thing, bad planning is a completely different fish. This should never have gone in here.

Eoineo

But it's there now there's very little we can do. Yes the town centre is becoming full of fast food joints etc, etc but that had started to happen years ago.

If we don't want any more fast food outlets or pubs then we need to start objecting to planning permission applications. For example there is a hearing in the court tomorrow for an arcade application - a gambling licence for the town. I'd bet many people don't know about that or have objected...

Bluetonic

Morphéus wrote: »

On the one hand, even locating a business like this, where it is, makes absolutely zero sense.

You can be very sure that sense is something Tesco have a lot of. They are very well advised and seldom make bad decisions, for them at least.

Morpheus

nope! didnt know.

Heres another concern then, so its here, its not going anywhere, can we be sure that the shopping centre part of it wont remain empty looking with blanked up retail outlets? also if they DO open, will they survive?

My folks went up for a look and said that the escalator/ramps are built right up through the middle of the floors and give the place a somewhat claustraphobic feel compared to scotch hall or pavillions.