Adult shop on shop street

Mrs OBumble

I dunno why the pink-ness is upsetting people

I find it far nicer than the bright yellow of the shop underneath!

emptybladder

drum! wrote: »

Apart from the tacky pink facade, i'm not bothered by it. It'll be closed in a few months anyway, there's no way they'll make enough to cover the high rents on shop street and the ridiculous city rates.

Do you honestly think Hollands are achieving a high rent on that unit? They ain't stupid.

drum!

2008 high? No, but i'm sure it's still quite high compared to nearly every other unit of a similar size in other streets around Galway. That plus the rates (which are not going down) will finish this place off fairly easily. Who the f*ck is going to be seen walking into a sex shop in a high vis area like shop street in the first place?!

emptybladder

drum! wrote: »

2008 high? No, but i'm sure it's still quite high compared to nearly every other unit of a similar size in other streets around Galway. That plus the rates (which are not going down) will finish this place off fairly easily. Who the f*ck is going to be seen walking into a sex shop in a high vis area like shop street in the first place?!

No, it's not a high rent at all. Not after the negotiations with Carpenters fell apart. And you won't be seen walking into a sex shop. You'll be seen walking in the door of Jackpot downstairs.

drum!

emptybladder wrote: »

you won't be seen walking into a sex shop. You'll be seen walking in the door of Jackpot downstairs.

Very clever!

CoolGirl101

What is the big deal about it?
Everyone has sex, and everyone knows it, whether you like to believe that or not.

Sex is already everywhere, in the media, all over society....what more harm can one little shop do?

If you don't like the idea, don't go in there.

mikom

emptybladder wrote: »

You'll be seen walking in the door of Jackpot downstairs.

Soon to be known as jackoff.

Ficheall

CoolGirl101 wrote: »

What is the big deal about it?
Everyone has sex...

Not everyone

drum!

CoolGirl101 wrote: »

What is the big deal about it?
Everyone has sex, and everyone knows it, whether you like to believe that or not.

Sex is already everywhere, in the media, all over society....what more harm can one little shop do?

If you don't like the idea, don't go in there.

You're so cool

CoolGirl101

drum! wrote: »

You're so cool

Not really, just trying to make the point that, in this day and age it's hardly as if sex is under wraps.
Young girls go around looking like call girls already, kids already have sex at the age of thirteen, the way the OP is talking, you'd think all these disgusting things weren't already around, be realistic.

MrTsSnickers

Where exactly is it? I was on shop St. yesterday and I didn't notice it.

Mrs OBumble

Actually on William St (logical Shop St ) - where Carpenters Menswear used to be.

cats.life

cant believe that there,s 11 pages about a sex shop in galway..will we tune in to JOE DUFFY tomorrow?

The OP is generating great publicity for this sex shop.

Is this actually clever advertising?

cats.life

rarnes1 wrote: »

The OP is generating great publicity for this sex shop.

Is this actually clever advertising?

was thinking the same, could the owner be the OP??:eek:;)

einshteen

Buisness start up wrote: »

Ann summers is a high class establishment. Shop street is Galways main shopping thorough fair.It should be high class and not ruined by bright pink adult shops. Surely the city council could do something about, The new business would have to pay rates etc. This is my opinion.

Oh you don't like it? Don't go there.

pseudonym1

I gotta agree with OP (and shudder at my conservatism) a lot of tacky shops have opened up on shop street and IMO don’t think its a good look. Tacky seedy shops bring tacky seedy people.



I don’t know why the council don’t make better planning or choices....If gonna have such shops dont put them on the main street of d street town.

ben.schlomo

pseudonym1 wrote: »

I gotta agree with OP (and shudder at my conservatism) a lot of tacky shops have opened up on shop street and IMO don’t think its a good look. Tacky seedy shops bring tacky seedy people.

I don’t know why the council don’t make better planning or choices....If gonna have such shops dont put them on the main street of d street town.

plenty of seedy people around no matter what shops are there. Its a recession, cheap tacky shops are more prevalent as they are easier to run and less hassle to set up. i wouldn't overly worry about it if i were you.

softmee

pseudonym1 wrote: »

I gotta agree with OP (and shudder at my conservatism) a lot of tacky shops have opened up on shop street and IMO don’t think its a good look. Tacky seedy shops bring tacky seedy people.



I don’t know why the council don’t make better planning or choices....If gonna have such shops dont put them on the main street of d street town.

One sensible voice after so many dull comments..

ben.schlomo

softmee wrote: »

One sensible voice after so many dull comments..

dull because most people seem to have a quite open mind towards something so harmless? Or just because they disagree with you?

pseudonym1

Having just read the thread in detail, I wish you could all try to remember how beautiful shop street once was and the see the potential it has. Its not about bible bashing sensibilities more about sense of the future and wanting Galway to establish itself as a cool tasteful city (town) destination. It has a fantastic reputation for arts, culture and there are some fantastic boutiques/ independent stores in Galway and this is what will set it apart from other places. Neon sex shops are not the way to go IMO.


Also it seems to me that many of the opposing arguments come accross more like weak sneers rather than objectified debate.

LeoB

Is it the tacky paint work or the content that bother you most?

Is it not better out in the open than up a dark side street ith Junkies and drunks hassleing people? We are a fairly mature state and if you think the plane loads leaving Dublin, Cork, Ireland west and Shannon for Eastern eurpe annd Amsterdam are going on a pilgrimage think again.

The only reason Ann Sommers is not on Grafton St is rent. Try some of the shopping centre in U.K and Europe and this is probably like a swetshop.

softmee

ben.schlomo wrote: »

dull because most people seem to have a quite open mind towards something so harmless? Or just because they disagree with you?

Dull because they think I would be ashamed to see plastic penis and they are so emancipated because they think sex shops are so cool - and this is not about it! I cant belive i have to explain it even.. If you call it beeing "open minded" - there is no point argueing. I was talking about esthetic aspect - thats not a moral issue!

Head The Wall

softmee wrote: »

i am not fan of sex shops anyway. I just think plastic penises and stuff like that are for sad people.

Having seen people using plastic penises and dildos, they definitely didn't look sad. Some were crying but it wasn't from sadness

ben.schlomo

softmee wrote: »

Dull because they think I would be ashamed to see plastic penis and they are so emancipated because they think sex shops are so cool - and this is not about it! I cant belive i have to explain it even.. If you call it beeing "open minded" - there is no point argueing. I was talking about esthetic aspect - thats not a moral issue!

i believe you may have missed the point, nobody is saying that they are 'cool' shops, they are simply saying its not a bad thing to have it there. The starting point of the thread was an op who was outraged by this place and 99% of people commenting since have no issue with it apart from its nasty paint job. So yes compared to the OP they are open minded.

pseudonym1

It is not so much the sales content as the cheapness it conveys, this is reflected in the decor. I don’t have a problem with sex shops and I don’t have a problem with neon pink if that is what you’re into...I don’t however think promoting it on the main street of Galway is the way to go. Something a bit more unique and tasteful would be a better option IMO. I jus don’t think it’s necessary to have such places smack bang in the city. If it were up to me Taylors pub would still be there and it would make for a far nicer side of town if it were.

pseudonym1

ben.schlomo wrote: »

So yes compared to the OP they are open minded.

I don't know if there has been much open mindedness, more like sneers and quips inferring the OP is some sort of bible basher who doesn’t believe in progress.

ErnieBert

I never knew that there is a plural word for penis nor did I need to know.

Mrs OBumble

You know, pretty much opposite the bright yellow Jackpot and bright pink sex-shop, there is also a bright green Tribes gift shop.

Granted Tribes is done in panelling rather than paint. But it's almost as vivid. And the tourist-shyte that they sell is about as much use as the stuff sold in Jackpot and a good deal less useful to ordinary Irish man/woman than the stuff sold in the sex shop.

Should we close Tribes down, too, because it's tacky?

(For the record ... I've purchased in Tribes, when I wanted tourist / souvenir stuff to send home. I've nothing against them personally, it just struck me that the need to be part of this discussion 'cos of their location.)

pseudonym1

JustMary wrote: »

You know, pretty much opposite the bright yellow Jackpot and bright pink sex-shop, there is also a bright green Tribes gift shop.

Granted Tribes is done in panelling rather than paint. But it's almost as vivid. And the tourist-shyte that they sell is about as much use as the stuff sold in Jackpot and a good deal less useful to ordinary Irish man/woman than the stuff sold in the sex shop.

Should we close Tribes down, too, because it's tacky?

(For the record ... I've purchased in Tribes, when I wanted tourist / souvenir stuff to send home. I've nothing against them personally, it just struck me that the need to be part of this discussion 'cos of their location.)

Providing such specific tourist tack is expected in any town/city. Is it not? IMHO Kelly green and neon pink... mmmm no comparison which is worse. Neon pink,

In fairness I don't think it is just the sex shop its all the cheap and tacky shops that have opened of late on shop street. I just dont think its cool or will serve the city in best possible light.

Ficheall

Just as a matter of interest - have the people who are complaining about this premises actually seen it?

The only indication that it might be a sex a shop are the words "Lingerie", "Adult Toys" and something else I can't remember, printed on the window upstairs.

pseudonym1

I wouldn't find such a store in such a location appealing . So no haven't been in there.

Ficheall

I don't mean inside it - I meant from the outside.

pseudonym1

Yes, tre tacky.

The Cool

I love how people here are making out that Ann Summers is not the same as a sex shop. The only difference is that the Ann Summers brand is marketed towards women. But to whoever said it, however many pages ago, that AS don't sell bondage or whips or "hardcore" stuff like that? You obviously haven't looked at an AS catalogue in, oh, ever. I have nothing against sex shops, just don't be thinking AS is just a run of the mill lingerie shop! "High class establishment", you're making it out to sound like it's La Senza!

At the end of the day, it's a storey up, and nowhere on the outside does it say that it is a sex shop, or advertise anything that children shouldn't see. It says that it is an adult store dealing in hen and stag party merchandise. Nothing there that will make a child ask awkward questions.

Speaking of which, do you all think that no children ever walk down Dominick Street and the sex shop there that has all its stuff openly shown in the window?

Furthermore, if a child looks up in a certain aisle in Tesco, they'll see the Durex range etc. Do ye think then, that all that stuff should be banned from supermarkets?

And as for what has been said about the tourism - most other Europeans, from my own experience, are a lot more accustomed to having adult shops around. I noticed in France and Spain that they had no qualms about having magazines with pornographic images on the cover, on the bottom shelf! I think that, to them, they are like, "meh!" It's just our Irish society that is unbelievably prudish!

Time we got with the times I reckon!

softmee

The Cool wrote: »

Time we got with the times I reckon!

You are late with this about 20 years.. now "the times" are rather to protect children from porn etc.

mitsuko045

JustMary wrote: »

I dunno why the pink-ness is upsetting people

I find it far nicer than the bright yellow of the shop underneath!

Maybe it was the offensive colour scheme of the two shops combined was what was really bothering OP?

Or maybe the saucy wink of the poor lasses face who's on the front of the building?

Smeh, if people are so picky about what should be on shop street and whether it's tacky or not, they should remember that taste is personal and if I was allowed get rid of everything I thought to be tacky on shop st we'd have no McDonalds, Zhivago's, empty shop fronts or tourist tat shops (which in my opinion are way worse than sex shops, at least they aren't absolutely ripping people off for a wooly jumper)

Soo... we all going to be listening in to Joe tomorrow?
I know I am

ben.schlomo

softmee wrote: »

You are late with this about 20 years.. now "the times" are rather to protect children from porn etc.

'Protect children from porn'? What, is it coming in the windows and doors? Christ get over your issues and relax a bit will you.

Das Kitty

I couldn't give a flip tbh.

What I do find offensive though is having to pass through a group of people holding massive photos of dead babies to get to Eason. That's something that's actually bad for tourism.

Krieg

While the main argument here is that the shop looks tacky, Id just like to point out that theres been a sex shop on shop st for the last 10+ years. The jokeshop above that butlers cafe, They sell adult toys

GarIT

Buisness start up wrote: »

Shop street is equal to Dublins Grafton street and my opinion the standard should be highly maintained. Leave the sex shops for the back alleys.

Nowhere in Ireland is equal to Grafton street, I doubt any backstreet sex shop could afford the €500k to €1 million rent a year.

Buisness start up wrote: »

Yes I do care about it, I would like tourists to country and my children to walk down the jewel of Galway city without seeing shops that sell mechanical sex devices, hard core pornographic audio and visual and Nurses uniforms that any real nurse would catch puenomia in.

They have them in every other country. There on the main streets in Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris and Milan. Why should Dublin be different. Just because its not what you into why should other people have to hide from you?

biko

Some off-topic removed.

A sex shop and a gay night club on Shop Street? Wow, this must surely be driving some people insane!

pseudonym1

For the wonderfully open minded people perhaps open your mind to a vision of the city in a couple of years when it is polluted with neon tacky shops. That the kinda place you wanna be? Well there are plenty of places like that and few with the charm of Galway all am saying is it is worth preserving that image!
As liberal forward thinking young-ish person I think that tacky sex shops on Galway’s main street (and it is Galway so it is the main city thoroughfare) is simply not in the best interest of the city’s development. Tasteless cheap and tacky is not a reputation that the city has, but that can change all too quickly which will isolate a certain demographic and loose the wonderful appeal of an attractive cool diverse modern city.


I have said this as many possible ways as possible.. one more word TAYLORS!!

ben.schlomo

pseudonym1 wrote: »

For the wonderfully open minded people perhaps open your mind to a vision of the city in a couple of years when it is polluted with neon tacky shops. That the kinda place you wanna be? Well there are plenty of places like that and few with the charm of Galway all am saying is it is worth preserving that image!
As liberal forward thinking young-ish person I think that tacky sex shops on Galway’s main street (and it is Galway so it is the main city thoroughfare) is simply not in the best interest of the city’s development. Tasteless cheap and tacky is not a reputation that the city has, but that can change all too quickly which will isolate a certain demographic and loose the wonderful appeal of an attractive cool diverse modern city.


I have said this as many possible ways as possible.. one more word TAYLORS!!

quit living in the past Marge, its Le Paradis now and just like every other city in Europe we have a lap dancing club. Who cares, they cater to a demographic which obviously enjoy it and as long as it doesn't encourage anti-social behaviour then whats the problem. Its the same with the shop selling adult toys, its not a problem,im not expecting to see droves of tourists going past O'Briens and suddenly shrieking in horror. I take the point about a tacky looking Shop St but at the end of the day if shops are gonna open then rents need to drop as do rates and that doesnt look likely, so fair play to anyone who does open a business.

pseudonym1

ben.schlomo wrote: »

quit living in the past Marge, its Le Paradis now and just like every other city in Europe we have a lap dancing club. Who cares, they cater to a demographic which obviously enjoy it and as long as it doesn't encourage anti-social behaviour then whats the problem. Its the same with the shop selling adult toys, its not a problem,im not expecting to see droves of tourists going past O'Briens and suddenly shrieking in horror. I take the point about a tacky looking Shop St but at the end of the day if shops are gonna open then rents need to drop as do rates and that doesnt look likely, so fair play to anyone who does open a business.

I commend and admire anyone who starts their own business, but I am not sure it was the best location decision.


There is a time and a place for everything (and mine is very much in the present thankyou) I don’t think that Le Parades is a good location. I live right by there so aware how it has developed the area and are you going to suggest it has been for the better for the locality or for "trade"?!!!


I believe that it is a good opportunity to learn from mistakes. I am not saying down with all these sort of thing, just dont have tacky seedy places prime location ..
BTW my name is not Marge

ben.schlomo

pseudonym1 wrote: »

I commend and admire anyone who starts their own business, but I am not sure it was the best location decision.


There is a time and a place for everything (and mine is very much in the present thankyou) I don’t think that Le Parades is a good location. I live right by there so aware how it has developed the area and are you going to suggest it has been for the better for the locality or for "trade"?!!!


I believe that it is a good opportunity to learn from mistakes. I am not saying down with all these sort of thing, just dont have tacky seedy places prime location ..
BTW my name is not Marge

I think Paradis is in a good location, far better than if you put it down a quiet street with no pubs or restaurants like Augustine or Market or Merchants Road. At least back the west it has pubs every couple of doors and restaurants and takeaways to absorb it all together in one fine blend of decadence.

pseudonym1

ben.schlomo wrote: »

I think Paradis is in a good location, far better than if you put it down a quiet street with no pubs or restaurants like Augustine or Market or Merchants Road. At least back the west it has pubs every couple of doors and restaurants and takeaways to absorb it all together in one fine blend of decadence.

Do you remember the Wechst before it was there?

ben.schlomo

pseudonym1 wrote: »

Do you remember the Wechst before it was there?

I do, was more quaint and quieter. With the advent of 7 night late night opening in Roisin, the casino opening and more bars its definitely made the area far busier and created more jobs in the process.

cats.life

Krieg wrote: »

While the main argument here is that the shop looks tacky, Id just like to point out that theres been a sex shop on shop st for the last 10+ years. The jokeshop above that butlers cafe, They sell adult toys

oh yeah forgot about that little shop, went in there in my younger days, dont think it has changed that much .