32 year battle to get Marks&Spencer to Limerick

Poxyshamrock

audidiesel wrote: »

im not too pushed about m&s but id probably never go in the door if its city center based.

the experience of shopping in limerick city center as opposed to the crescent etc is more negative. ive no interest in using public transport and city center is definately too much of a walk. id have to queue in traffic a lot longer and pay for the privilage of parking aswell.

move it out of the city center and those problems largely disappear. it MUST NOT be city center based

I'm the complete opposite. I couldn't disagree more. I can't stand The Crescent. Even when it's packed it's still soulless and boring. I'd take town any day over it!

vkid

oh yay, its 2006 again!

Berty

Something on 2fm news blah blah flagship store in limerick in 2016 with openings in other towns like mullingar Tallaght and others.

sioda

vkid wrote: »

oh yay, its 2006 again!

Nope try 1989 first time I heard the rumors.

Poxyshamrock

Apparently they're closing 4 stores in Ireland soon.

Berty

Beer Baron wrote: »

Something on 2fm news blah blah flagship store in limerick in 2016 with openings in other towns like mullingar Tallaght and others.

Sorry closing those stores, story doesn't mention limerick but radio did.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0807/466829-marks-and-spencer-job-losses/

moby2101

Marks & Spencer announce terms have been agreed on a flagship store for Limerick, creating 250 jobs. Full details @Limerick_Leader shortly

Copied from the tweet machine

ongarboy

M&S are to open in Limerick in 2016 creating 250 jobs according to media reports today. Unfortunately, they are also closing 4 other stores in Mullingar, Tallaght, Naas and Dun Laoghaire.

I wonder have they agreed terms in Parkway Valley? I imagine they wouldn't announce a Limerick opening unless they secured a site.

moby2101

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/business/breaking-marks-spencer-to-anchor-parkway-valley-1-5360806


Parkway it is then,

Berty

Well as an anchor tenant that will bring other stores, construction jobs and many other jobs.

You know what? It won't be our money so let's just embrace it

And finally that sbarro can open. Lol

mitresize5

This will be a disaster for Limerick city centre.

Here's hoping it gets knocked back.

Poxyshamrock

Ridiculous move. :mad:

All the talk lately of rejuvenating the city centre and they let this happen.

That area of Limerick already has 2 Dunnes, an Aldi, a LIDL and a Superquinn.

Tzardine

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

Apparently they're closing 4 stores in Ireland soon.

They sure are.

http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2013/0807/466831-marks-spencer-to-close-four-irish-shops/

jmch81

jmch81 wrote: »

From my read of the article sounds like the Park Valley center is close to the deal.

This is waffle about them trying to get it into the city center. No plan, funding unknown, no start date for construction and completion a long way off. So when it doesn't happen they will say they did their best!

P.s I'm pro the Park Valley Center. The Crescent brings alot of customers in from the surrounding counties and I think it will do the same.

I can see the future!

pigtown

I think even worse news is the renaming of Parkway Valley to Horizon Mall. What an awful name.

Mc Love

mitresize5 wrote: »

This will be a disaster for Limerick city centre.

Here's hoping it gets knocked back.

Disaster for city center, the city center is already dead!
This will be fantastic for the county and region as a whole.

Next up the battle to bring Ikea to Limerick

source

As with the 2030 plan, I will believe it when I see it.

Not happy that it will be another out of town shopping centre though.

jmch81

Mc Love wrote: »

Disaster for city center, the city center is already dead!
This will be fantastic for the county and region as a whole.

The city center was never going to be 'saved' by M&S, it would continue on the same way even if they had chosen the Opera Center (completion 2020)

The city center used to have a lot more factories and actives operating out of it, just by looking at the pictures in this thread:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057009112
One can see the amount of large employers who used be in the city center from the pictures that are now gone. As I said before, commercial jobs are required in the city not retail. You have to get the people into the city center working/living, before the retail will recover there. A few hundred, min wage, retail jobs aren't going to sort any problem out.

sleepyman

Will they have to apply for planning permission?

sleepyman

jmch81 wrote: »

The city center was never going to be 'saved' by M&S, it would continue on the same way even if they had chosen the Opera Center (completion 2020)

The city center used to have a lot more factories and actives operating out of it, just by looking at the pictures in this thread:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057009112
One can see the amount of large employers who used be in the city center from the pictures that are now gone. As I said before, commercial jobs are required in the city not retail. You have to get the people into the city center working/living, before the retail will recover there. A few hundred, min wage, retail jobs aren't going to sort any problem out.

Couldn't agree more.I don't understand why people think M & S dropping anchor in the city is the panacea to Limerick's problems.More IT jobs, financial etc would be a start.Some pharma jobs also.You get 400 or 500 people working in the city, eating/drinking in the city & it would help so much.It would be great if some of the companies in Plassey for instance could relocate in the city centre.

Mc Love

Would be really nice to work in the city but the rent and availability of parking would be a pita

Poxyshamrock

Mc Love wrote: »

Would be really nice to work in the city but the rent and availability of parking would be a pita

The new "mall" may not necessarily have free parking either!
Dundrum TC in Dublin isn't free.

Kess73

Guess yesterday's frontpage headline in the Limerick chronicle showed yet again what kind of spoofers are involved with the city council and the 2030 plan.

All their talk about having ongoing talks with M&S about a store going into the latest imaginary city centre shopping centre, and M&S just pop up on their own website that the site they are looking at coming to is Parkway Valley.


No doubt we will see frontpage headlines in a few months about how the city officials and the like are in discussions with yet another big name retailer for yet another non existent shopping centre.

The Parkway valley centre won't solve all of Limerick's woes, but at least it looks like it might actually stand a chance of creating some jobs for the Limerick region, abd that has to be better than the usual round of "huge job boost" announcements we get to read every year about the Opera centre or the new Athrurs quay centre.

Kess73

ongarboy wrote: »

M&S are to open in Limerick in 2016 creating 250 jobs according to media reports today. Unfortunately, they are also closing 4 other stores in Mullingar, Tallaght, Naas and Dun Laoghaire.

I wonder have they agreed terms in Parkway Valley? I imagine they wouldn't announce a Limerick opening unless they secured a site.

Yep they have.

vkid

according to rte,

"However, the company said a new M&S store is proposed for Limerick, with 250 jobs promised."

Probably will happen...just where and the big one, when?

Kess73

pigtown wrote: »

I think even worse news is the renaming of Parkway Valley to Horizon Mall. What an awful name.

Horizon Mall will be part of the Parkway Valley project/centre, just like the Crescent Shopping centre has the Garryowen Mall etc within it.

flutered

i happened to be near two m&s lately, one in dublin one in clonmel, a little more upmarket than dunnes, i guess, ikea would do more for limerick than m&s, nothing will save the city center, unlesss the city fathers stop thumbing each others prostates, perhaps the algamation of the city and county councils will have an effect, as as the county guys have shown that they are way too cute for the city boys, not that that would bestow the title einsteins on them, the city needs jobs, not jobridge ones, ones with dosh, with the jobholders living in the city.

knipex

Large retail in the city center is gone.

Its just not practical as the footfall required means access and parking will be a nightmare. What the city center needs is smaller boutique stores, cafe's. restaurants, coffee shops, newsagents, specialty stores etc and it needs commercial jobs in the city center to drive footfall to support this.

The biggest mistakes Limerick made in terms of planning isn't the crescent or the Parkway valley it was targeting large retail instead of insurance companies, finance companies, IT, not opening small to medium size office space even small business hubs focusing on research and R&D. Every single development proposal in the city for as long as I can remember has been based around large retail space.
Can you imagine the chaos it would cause if the crescent was suddenly dropped in to the middle of the city, lack of parking, roads etc.

The crescent works because it draws in footfall from a large hinterland, it has easy access, plentiful parking etc. Moving it into the city would mean the loss of all those advantages. Stores like B&Q, Harvey Norman etc do not work in city center locations. Someone wants to buy tiles, or plants or 4 bags of cement they need to bring the car and park close, they buy a TV or washing machine they need the same.

The Opera center will not work if it tries to compete with the crescent of the Parkway Valley..

Who is going to deal with the traffic and parking issues when they have an alternative. It needs a complete rethink and refocus. Build office space, small to medium retail units, even research and IT facilities..Something that will draw in a customer base to feed the city..

Mc Love

Rent and commercial rates also being the downfall of the goons in the city

crackcrack30

Should we forget about the Opera centre on the scale invisaged and just make the city centre a nice place to be and visit with no commercial interest be it self , corporate or council....

...knock what we can of it , build a cork style purpose built play/opera facility and then circle the city centre with pedestrian/cycle park type track from the market area thru the revenue building and thru the old dunnes onto the new promenade a good 3km of urban garden hugging the waterfront.