And another place closes down.

SweetCaliber

Just walked past Sherwoods Digital beside the Sony Center (which recently closed down also) and noticed the place was cleared out.

My friend worked there and she headed for work this morning to find the place was empty.

Such a shame to see another place close down around here. Not sure if all the stores have closed? Kilkenny, Clonmel?

CardBordWindow

Ah Jaysus! I used to love getting last minute presents in there!

decies

Sherwoods and Sony centre were the same people . Sad to see it go all the same.

JenniFurr

lee3155 wrote: »

Just walked past Sherwoods Digital beside the Sony Center (which recently closed down also) and noticed the place was cleared out.

My friend worked there and she headed for work this morning to find the place was empty.

Such a shame to see another place close down around here. Not sure if all the stores have closed? Kilkenny, Clonmel?

You mean they didn't even tell their employees they were closing? It's sad to see another place close but that's lousy of them.

decies

People seem to be abandoning ship these days without a care to customers or staff .

Jason Todd

Probably afraid they'd have to pay any more than what's due to the staff. Lousy is not the word for it. We could nearly have a thread stickied in here now to keep track of all the places closing down.

giles lynchwood

The Sony Center in the Westgate retail park on the Tramore rd (opp lidl) is open for all your Sony need's.

Sully

Chriky. Sherwoods has been around for a long time now, hasn't it? I always thought the reason why the Sony Center closed was because there was a global shed of jobs from the company. Plus everything in there was very expensive.

mike65

I remember when Waterford had three or four places you could buy proper consumer electronics, then the switch to "junk" quality throwaway hi-fi happened and sheds opened
elsewhere (DID, Power City).

Media999

Sherwoods had a very popular system where people would have a few euro a week come out of an account and build up for the Christmas or whatever.

Im gonna assume they pulled a runner with that cash aswell. Not a good sign when they dont even tell their employees.

SweetCaliber

JenniFurr wrote: »

lee3155 wrote: »

Just walked past Sherwoods Digital beside the Sony Center (which recently closed down also) and noticed the place was cleared out.

My friend worked there and she headed for work this morning to find the place was empty.

Such a shame to see another place close down around here. Not sure if all the stores have closed? Kilkenny, Clonmel?

You mean they didn't even tell their employees they were closing? It's sad to see another place close but that's lousy of them.

The first she heard of it was when she turned up this morning to see the place gone

Hoffmans

dunno whether or not they are honouring the diddly club but they sent out notices recently regarding a company who would be collecting for any outstanding personal hire purchase debts.

looder

I'm not surprised Sherwoods is gone. Most Bricks and Mortar electronic shops are struggling big time due to the availability of cheaper alternatives online.

An empty Sherwoods will leave a big hole on that street.

The emergence of Harvey Norman over the past few years also didn't help I'd imagine.

Dum_Dum

The march of e-commerce means city centres need to be redefined across the Western world; Waterford isn't special. If you're a town planner relying on old school retail to jazz-up your town - it's not going to happen; and you should think carefully about another career. There's plenty that city centres can do well: meeting places, social spaces (like the fora of antiquity), niche retailing, entertainment, public transport nodes etc... What's interesting is the problem of climate. Shops are, of course, sheltered because they are indoors. How about the functions listed above? How can these spaces be protected from the elements?

fricatus

Dum_Dum wrote: »

The march of e-commerce means city centres need to be redefined across the Western world; Waterford isn't special. If you're a town planner relying on old school retail to jazz-up your town - it's not going to happen; and you should think carefully about another career. There's plenty that city centres can do well: meeting places, social spaces (like the fora of antiquity), niche retailing, entertainment, public transport nodes etc... What's interesting is the problem of climate. Shops are, of course, sheltered because they are indoors. How about the functions listed above? How can these spaces be protected from the elements?

Interesting thought!

decies

Waterfords problem is a lot more complex than the rise of e-commerce that's for sure .

kneemos

Jason Todd wrote: »

Probably afraid they'd have to pay any more than what's due to the staff. Lousy is not the word for it. We could nearly have a thread stickied in here now to keep track of all the places closing down.

Afraid of a sit in...perhaps

MacGyver

lee3155 wrote: »

My friend worked there and she headed for work this morning to find the place was empty.

The employees were told on friday that they were closing. Sherwoods kilkenny, carlow and clonmel are all remaining open as far as i know. The "diddly" should be accessible in those stores although i would think people should be entitled to a refund since the store they have access to is closed. Accounts are also payable locally but im not sure where has been made public yet.

As for the sony centres, they are franchises and the one in town is run by sherwoods where as the one on the tramore road is run by Mick Daly. the one on the tramore road is no longer technically a sony centre but has sony's permission for the sign to remain in place.

libra02

lee3155 wrote: »

Just walked past Sherwoods Digital beside the Sony Center (which recently closed down also) and noticed the place was cleared out.

My friend worked there and she headed for work this morning to find the place was empty.

Such a shame to see another place close down around here. Not sure if all the stores have closed? Kilkenny, Clonmel?

Staff were told last week that the place was closing and I know for a fact there was no way they just up and left without a word to the staff so your friend seems to be telling fibs.

Such a shame to see them go as I got all my electrical products there and staff were very helpful.

Be nothing left in this town if it keeps going the way it is - city council need to start reducing rates.

AdMMM

Jaysus, I just recommended to a friend only last week that they should go to Sherwoods if they wanted to buy local. Figured if they'd weathered the storm this long that they were safe and sound!

7upfree

That's gonna leave some hole in Michael Street. Very sad indeed.

Media999

libra02 wrote: »

city council need to start reducing rates.

Rates are the least of electrical retailers problems these days. Fact they where overpriced was a huge factor.

They should have moved out of town long ago to somewhere like Superquinn and lowered prices.

Kelly and Dollard are always busy. Better prices and easier to get to.

Trick of the Tail

I gotta tell you, rates are a problem. Where my business is, the rates are nearly as much as the annual rent.

And we get nothing for that, except perhaps sewage disposal. Its a private estate so no street lights, refuse collection, pavement maintenance etc. We even have to pay water rates separately.

Still, I guess the City Council need those exorbitant rates to pay for more statues and hanging baskets, and resurfacing of roads that are already perfectly good.

As long as we have all this vanity, I guess they don't care that they're a major factor in driving businesses under.

A

SubBusted

There should be a free daily bus service around the county bringing shoppers into the city centre.

Media999

Not saying there not a problem. They obviously are.

Sherwoods had far bigger problems than Rates is all im saying. People these days want value. The best Value.

Trick of the Tail

True, but one of the reasons city centre prices are higher than the outskirts is that the rates are higher!

A

realworld82

iIt is very interesting that Sherwoods run a very profitable store in Kilkenny but a similar sized store in a bigger city could not survive.
I think the ringing of Waterford City by Tescos was the beginning of the end for retail in the city center and the closure of the likes of Sherwoods is further proof of this.

Sully

Tesco doesn't sell that much electronics compared with Sherwoods. I doubt that was their threat. You have DID, Kelly & Dollard, and Harvey Norman all eating from the same pie and offering very competitive deals to entice customers to shop with them.

Tom_Cruise

While it is sad to see it close,it was some way more expensive than some of the other electrical retailers in the city as had already been pointed out so i cant say im surprised by the news.

Its a pretty nice shop in a good location,maybe some one will try and make something of it?

realworld82

Sully wrote: »

Tesco doesn't sell that much electronics compared with Sherwoods. I doubt that was their threat. You have DID, Kelly & Dollard, and Harvey Norman all eating from the same pie and offering very competitive deals to entice customers to shop with them.

Well Tesco are selling about 120k of electronics in Waterford excluding cds and dvds which is quite a lot, as i said the strategy to ring waterford with stores is the problem for all city center retail.
Its something they have done in the uk with great results for them but as with waterford it results in empty town centers just like we have in waterford

SweetCaliber

MacGyver wrote: »

The employees were told on friday that they were closing. Sherwoods kilkenny, carlow and clonmel are all remaining open as far as i know. The "diddly" should be accessible in those stores although i would think people should be entitled to a refund since the store they have access to is closed. Accounts are also payable locally but im not sure where has been made public yet.

As for the sony centres, they are franchises and the one in town is run by sherwoods where as the one on the tramore road is run by Mick Daly. the one on the tramore road is no longer technically a sony centre but has sony's permission for the sign to remain in place.

libra02 wrote: »

Staff were told last week that the place was closing and I know for a fact there was no way they just up and left without a word to the staff so your friend seems to be telling fibs.

Such a shame to see them go as I got all my electrical products there and staff were very helpful.

Be nothing left in this town if it keeps going the way it is - city council need to start reducing rates.

Just quoting what I heard! Must double check, but still, very sad to see them go.

They do have a website, not great but works. Guess everything really is moving to the web.