Is Ennis turning into a ghost town?

Clareman

anthony4335 wrote: »

point taken, however alot of those businesses I would not really frequent. Tierney's now that is a great shop, love to go in there from time to time, buy something for the nephews. Hardley has changed in all the time I have been going in there. One thing I really miss, is a good record shop.

I go into Tierney's a couple of times a year, they have a great darts collection and every once in a while I'll get an Airfix set for myself, now that I think about it I haven't done that in years.

Heaslips used to be awful handy for those day long sessions in the Diamond, a group of us used to meet up for matches and stuff and we'd have a ritual that whoever was last to buy the first round also had to get a round of scratch cards in Heaslips, then whoever was second last had to go back with whatever winnings we had and buy more scratch cards, if there was more than the price of the scratch cards the money would go in a kitty, that would continue on until it got to whoever got the first round, if it got to them any money that was made went on the lotto.

I'm afraid the day of the record shop is gone, HMV can't even survive anymore, if you want music now I think Tesco or on-line will be your only options.

Clareman

MrsD007 wrote: »

I bet you remember the late Joe Galligan's shop - 'Hurdy Gurdy'. It was situated in Abbey Street opposite Georgie Meehan's. I remember my mother used to take me in there as a child and every week I'd get to buy a single. Jaysus, I'm feeling ancient now I used to love Record Rack too in the early days too.

Hurdy Gurdy started out where YOLO is now, Central Buildings, beside Josie O'Shea, it was the only place in town you could get Amstrad CPC 464 games, I spent an awful lot of money there, I still have the games and Amstrad though

They did have a second shop though where Abrakebra is now, they used to have music stuff downstairs and give music lessons downstairs, my mother too a piano lessons course there once from 4-6 on Thursday evenings, I had to wait downstairs for her after school.

Lady Chatterton

Clareman wrote: »

Hurdy Gurdy started out where YOLO is now, Central Buildings, beside Josie O'Shea, it was the only place in town you could get Amstrad CPC 464 games, I spent an awful lot of money there, I still have the games and Amstrad though

They did have a second shop though where Abrakebra is now, they used to have music stuff downstairs and give music lessons downstairs, my mother too a piano lessons course there once from 4-6 on Thursday evenings, I had to wait downstairs for her after school.

You have an excellent memory, I'd forgotten about the shop in Central Buildings, I'm relieved that I'm not the only fossil hanging around this forum :pac::pac::pac:

cgarvey

.. don't forget Hurdy Gurdy's cheap video camera rental!

Shapey Fiend

Hurdy Gurdy had 3 shops at one stage didn't he? There was one where Abrakebabra is, another somewhere on Parnell St. and the video shop over by the back of Yolos. I was so young I might be imagining the Parnell St. one. He was cranky as hell anyway. I remember he put 6 pounds on my video account for losing the manual for General Chaos on the Mega Drive.

Clareman

Parnell St. was probably Pace Video, where all movies were organised by genre and there wasn't any New Releases section, they eventually got a binder with photocopies of the new release covers on them and you'd ask "have you xxxx", ahhh, memory lane remembering when your record was kept on little cards and you didn't have to bring back a movie on a Sunday.

I remember it used to be £20 to get 3 movies and a video player, you had to put a big deposit down for the video player though. There was also a couple of different video shops upstairs of the Chinese in the Market before Xtravision took off, I remember 1 used to have a top 20 of videos and little lights under each 1 if they had it in stock as well. There was Video City in the Abbey St. car park as well at once stage.

Video rental stores used to take up a lot of the town, there's only 1 or 2 left now, they all seem to have been replaced with cafes or bars

Lady Chatterton

I think Shapey is correct, now that I think of it, I reckon that Hurdy Gurdy had a shop next to Carmel Healy's children's boutique.

maiden

Great memories here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/You-are-a-true-30-something-from-Ennis-if-you-remember/229065313524?fref=ts

My fav are the stairs in the Cash Co. with the huge gaps between steps and McMahons in the square with the rotating jewellery standa, u could push the buttons to rotate them!

Lady Chatterton

Maiden - I adored the jewellery department is McMahon's, it was just fab, I used to dream of winning the lotto and buying all the jewellery they had in the shop. They used to have very fancy jewellery boxes too. Those rotating display units were way before their time, they were class.

What can I say about Ennis Cash Co., it always reminded me of this famous department store



They really took their docket writing very seriously, you'd be there for ages waiting for your goods to be itemised on the docket and you were in serious to trouble if they didn't make a carbon paper of the sale because they would have to start all over again, lol

anthony4335

Funny enough I was never a Hurdy Gurdy customer, always shopped in the Record rack until they gave up. Used to love going in on my days off picking about 5 CDs and taking a listen to them before I chose one or all depending. I all but forgot about McMahons, great shop, the easons of Ennis.
I also miss Henry's cafe across from the Clare Champion, never was quite the same when he moved.

supersheeps

I think McMahons may be at least partially responsible for my stationery addiction...loved that place!

Lady Chatterton

When I was a kid, collecting fancy paper was all the rage and McMahon's used to have a brilliant selection.

buck65

We often rented videos in Hurdy Gurdy and a video player as well! They had a great metal collection on Abbey St but covers kept getting nicked.

maiden

More to add to the list:

Poppy Bridal Parnell St
Magpies Nest Parnell St

And Im so sad to hear this, staff of Brogans were called to a meeting today, they are closing next week

Hidalgo

maiden wrote: »

More to add to the list:

Poppy Bridal Parnell St
Magpies Nest Parnell St

And Im so sad to hear this, staff of Brogans were called to a meeting today, they are closing next week

One of the staff has been working their for more than 50 years, started out when he was 16 or so. An absolute gent of a bar man.

Lady Chatterton

Poppy Bridal was only featured on 'Don't Tell The Bride' last Thursday night I'm really gutted over Brogans, I hope that something can be done so it can remain open

It is desperately sad to see so many businesses closing down but unless something is done to reduce rents and commercial rates, this will continue to happen unfortunately.

Edit: I've just checked Poppy Bridal's website and facebook page and there are no announcements on either. There is nothing to suggest they may be closing.

ger664

maiden wrote: »

And Im so sad to hear this, staff of Brogans were called to a meeting today, they are closing next week

Had originally booked sons confirmation in Woodstock, then we booked upstairs in Brogans. Have to go looking again if this is true

maiden

ger664 wrote: »

Had originally booked sons confirmation in Woodstock, then we booked upstairs in Brogans. Have to go looking again if this is true

I have to say ive been to a few private parties in The Market Bar lately and have been very impressed, the close for private functions like christenings etc

At night, if you have over 50 people they supply food and a DJ for free

Palmach

maiden wrote: »

More to add to the list:

Poppy Bridal Parnell St
Magpies Nest Parnell St

And Im so sad to hear this, staff of Brogans were called to a meeting today, they are closing next week

Brogans is an institution. It will be a blow if it closes.

ger664

Update on Brogans. It will remain open, just a change in the people/company who will be running it.

Lady Chatterton

ger664 wrote: »

Update on Brogans. It will remain open, just a change in the people/company who will be running it.

That's fantastic news about Brogans Ger, thanks for providing us with an update!

Lady Chatterton

Mod Note

Going forward, please only post the names of businesses that have closed down

or

have officially announced that they will be closing (i.e a statement on facebook, shop notice, news reports or closing down sale etc.)

Please provide links where possible.

Inaccurate reports about the status of a particular business could potentially be damaging to them.

maiden

MrsD007 wrote: »

Mod Note

Going forward, please only post the names of businesses that have closed down

or

have officially announced that they will be closing (i.e a statement on facebook, shop notice, news reports or closing down sale etc.)

Please provide links where possible.

Inaccurate reports about the status of a particular business could potentially be damaging to them.

I mentioned Poppy Bridal as the shop is def closed as when u pass u can see hair products in the window from the salon next door

A person who was at a meeting in Brogans during the week told me it was closing next week, and liquidators coming in, things make have changed since then, but I certainly wasnt making inaccurate reports

Lady Chatterton

Maiden - I was making a general point in my mod note, I just want to ensure that we are being fair to our local businesses.

Lady Chatterton

Mr Simms Mr. Duffy's Olde Sweet Shoppe in O'Connell Street which opened in July/August 2011 are having a closing down sale.

It's sad to see another store close.

Mr. G

MrsD007 wrote: »

Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe in O'Connell Street which opened in July/August 2011 are having a closing down sale.

It's sad to see another store close.

That's awful news. I love the marshmallow fluff they have. I'm really fond of that place.

Shapey Fiend

Sweet, milkshake and smoothy places never seem to last that long. Still a decent selection in Tierneys and Heaslips anyway.

maiden

Wigoders Ennis, closing according to their FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/wigoders.ennis?fref=ts

Lady Chatterton

maiden wrote: »

Wigoders Ennis, closing according to their FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/wigoders.ennis?fref=ts

That's very sad, they've been there for years. I must admit that I like Noel Coote's though. I always find him competitive on price.

maiden

Swiss Flower Shop announced closing down sale starting tomorrow on their FB page