B&Q to close

Trick of the Tail

I went into Block & Quayle's just now, and it was very busy.

All because of the 20%-off closing down sale I guess. I'd say if it had had this traffic every Friday eve it might not be closing. Its a pity people hadn't previously decided that they needed what they need now, if you see what I mean!

A.

mike65

Ah but it doesn't work like that.

If the additional "20% off" turnover was spread over months it wouldn't have been enough.

Trick of the Tail

I know that, I was being flippant. And if they'd always been "20% off" it probably wouldn't have been viable anyway.

Pity though, its a damn useful shop to have around.

A.

spankmemunkey

Wow 20 percent off they really pushed the boat out! I was speaking to a member of staff doors close may 4th for the last time. he told me the sales may go up ie 30-40 percent but he wasnt sure, He also told me that lots of stock has already been moved to other stores not surprising, and all the electrical display tools had all their cables cut to deter staff pocketing stuff.

20 percent is nothing though, tin of paint worth 30 euro is 6 euros!

leduke

spankmemunkey wrote: »

Wow 20 percent off they really pushed the boat out! I was speaking to a member of staff doors close may 4th for the last time. he told me the sales may go up ie 30-40 percent but he wasnt sure, He also told me that lots of stock has already been moved to other stores not surprising, and all the electrical display tools had all their cables cut to deter staff pocketing stuff.

20 percent is nothing though, tin of paint worth 30 euro is 6 euros!

wow thanks! we would never have figured that out!:)

allthedoyles

From a financial point of view , the 20% off works in 2 ways :

1. - A quick cash injection for the company
2. - Reduced logistics costs in moving items to other stores / UK

south

I hear a lot of staff are getting a hard time since the news came out that they would be closing. People pushing for more then the 20% off and expecting things for half the price and not getting much sympathy for been made unemployed in a few weeks.

jayboi

Do we know how much they had to pay in rent and rates?
Who owns the unit anyway?

spankmemunkey

allthedoyles wrote: »

From a financial point of view , the 20% off works in 2 ways :

1. - A quick cash injection for the company
2. - Reduced logistics costs in moving items to other stores / UK

Wow thanks for that!:D

20 percent is hardly a closing down sale, Debehams and the like have sales of more than 20 percent all the time. and nobody said staff were getting hassled and bugged about whether the prices would come down futher,

Members of staff were asked how they were getting on and its terrible etc etc and it was pointed out that 20 percent was hardly a closing down price which was agreed upon, Some people love to make up stuff make presumptions and put their slant on things! my sympathies were expressed to the very nice member of staff and he was happy to talk to me and my family!

roxyworldgirl

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/further-job-losses-prevented-as-bq-ireland-exits-examinership-593636.html

Waterford seemed to be singled out for the job losses.
We knew it was coming but this cant make it any easier for those who lost their jobs only a few days ago.

Sully

Topic Merged

Sad to see.

Max Powers

Sully wrote: »

Topic Merged

Sad to see.

Where did you hear/see that? i thought i remember reading that the landlord was working with B&Q on rent in Waterford, sure who else is gonna occupy it. That landlord is no fool and would im sure accept lower terms to keep some money coming in.
Id say main reason is our chronic unemployment problem and people not aving any spare money.

bilibob

Sure the same thing with Pamela Scott. Its nto the same number of Jobs I know but 12 of 24 of their stores to be kept open. Limerick has 2 stores, both of which will stay open- Waterford is the 5th larges city in the country- but its almost like the shops have an anywhere but waterford appoach. 6 new stores to be opened in the next 18 months- Will any of those open in Waterford?

As for B and q- In my opinion- Such a large out of town centre should never have been allowed to be build so far outisde the city. along the 'old part' of corkroad is like a wasteland there after eddie rockets, where wigoders, audi and all of them were for years. there are so many retail units closer to the centre of the city Idle- Its not like being on the ring road can possibly be an advantage- sure theres no traffic on it at all down that end. I think it was surplus to requirements and there seems to be plenty of competition there anyway between sixcross roads, Morris's, Woodies, Heiton Buckey Homebase, and all the hardware stuff that Lidl and aldi seem to get in. Its awful about those extra unemployed people but if there was no money - and any money being made going back to a uk company- I dunno if its that big a loss.

Sully

Is Pamela Scott gone from Georges Court?

mike65

Does anyone know who the landlords are?

beazee

mike65 wrote: »

Does anyone know who the landlords are?

Counsel said that it had been agreed with landlords James and Bridget Treacy of Butlerstown House, Waterford, that the lease of their store in Waterford can be repudiated as part of the examiner’s proposed scheme of arrangement.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/commercial-property/b-q-pays-5m-to-repudiate-lease-on-waterford-store-1.1348101

noddyone2

jayboi wrote: »

Do we know how much they had to pay in rent and rates?
Who owns the unit anyway?

You'll find the names on IT.COM (Irish Times website).

Motivator

Let me get this straight:

B&Q are closing because the rent is too high on their unit in Waterford.

Treacy refused to lower the rate of rent paid by B&Q to him.

B&Q close in Waterford & Treacy gets a €5 million pay off because B&Q broke their contract.

Please someone tell me that isn't what is happening? He should be ashamed of himself if it is.

ex_infantry

Motivator wrote: »

Let me get this straight:

B&Q are closing because the rent is too high on their unit in Waterford.

Treacy refused to lower the rate of rent paid by B&Q to him.

B&Q close in Waterford & Treacy gets a €5 million pay off because B&Q broke their contract.

Please someone tell me that isn't what is happening? He should be ashamed of himself if it is.

all i say is karma will get mr treacy eventually for being greedy

beazee

Motivator wrote: »

Treacy gets a €5 million pay off because B&Q broke their contract.

A probably 20 year contract which B&Q signed more than 5 yrs ago trusting it's a deal of the life to secure the rent at such level before it rises any further.

B&Q took a bet signing a long-term contract and they lost as we know it, landlord was led to believe he has a stable tenant for the next, say, 20 years and no reason to worry over bank repayments (as this investment was probably built with borrowed money).

They might have sat down to negotiations where B&Q straight away went onto a minimum 50% cut on the rent paid. (11.6 mln paid rents for all stores vs 5.8 mln current market rents). It then might be a bank manager (not a landlord) opposing the cuts as this move would seriously depreciate property value based on the rent received putting mortgage into negative equity which looks bad in bank books.

At least now bank manager is happy (property still holds its value in their books), landlord was granted 5 mln pay off (which will probably pay the mortgage off) and B&Q off the examinership.

Pity there's no place for ordinary folk in this equation

robtri

Motivator wrote: »

Let me get this straight:

B&Q are closing because the rent is too high on their unit in Waterford.

Treacy refused to lower the rate of rent paid by B&Q to him.

B&Q close in Waterford & Treacy gets a €5 million pay off because B&Q broke their contract.

Please someone tell me that isn't what is happening? He should be ashamed of himself if it is.

Sad as it is, why shouldnt he get paid?? They signed a lease and are obliged to honour it. We dont know the repayments on the park, if he lowered the rent maybe over time it would cost him and force him into recievership

No one forced b&q to sign the lease, so yes they should be made honour it if they want to break it....

spankmemunkey

robtri wrote: »

Sad as it is, why shouldnt he get paid?? They signed a lease and are obliged to honour it. We dont know the repayments on the park, if he lowered the rent maybe over time it would cost him and force him into recievership

No one forced b&q to sign the lease, so yes they should be made honour it if they want to break it....

I have to agree, and wasnt it written into Irish law or something that there could only upward only rent reviews? B+Q came into the Irish market thinking they could make money, their investment didnt really work out so they have to meet their legal obligations. I also think the rent thing was a bit of a smoke screen they probably just wanted to wrap things up in some branches in ireland anyway and maybe it says alot about the financial shape of waterford when they decide to pull out at a cost of millions to them.

Trick of the Tail

All true legally, but morally speaking it's a pity the landlord couldn't see it in his heart to reduce the rent or even give them a 'holiday', so that a) the staff may not have lost their jobs, b) the city would not have lost yet another business, c) the whole retail park wouldn't be even less attractive to visit and the other tenants would not be affected, which they will be now.

That's what landlords in the other locations did, and as we have seen, those actions helped keep Athlone open.

Still, knowing of that landlord, I'm not surprised.

robtri

Trick of the Tail wrote: »

All true legally, but morally speaking it's a pity the landlord couldn't see it in his heart to reduce the rent or even give them a 'holiday', so that a) the staff may not have lost their jobs, b) the city would not have lost yet another business, c) the whole retail park wouldn't be even less attractive to visit and the other tenants would not be affected, which they will be now.

That's what landlords in the other locations did, and as we have seen, those actions helped keep Athlone open.

Still, knowing of that landlord, I'm not surprised.

He might not have been in a position too
Also as b&q were in recievership the chaces were even with a rent reduction they would have pulled out

delthedriver

Gosh,all very gloomy.Sign of the times

Trick of the Tail

Not in a position to? He's not unwealthy.

They weren't in receivership, they were in examinership. And if the examiner had seen a reduction in rent or a 'holiday' as making the store viable, they would have kept it open, as they did in other places.

Jamie2k9

Didn't want to start a new threat but Homebase has gone into examiner ship, the good news for Waterford store is they don't plane to close it only one in Carlow, Mayo and Dublin but if landlords are greedy Waterford is in danger as are others.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0716/462772-examiner-appointed-to-homebase-ireland/

spankmemunkey

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Didn't want to start a new threat but Homebase has gone into examiner ship, the good news for Waterford store is they don't plane to close it only one in Carlow, Mayo and Dublin but if landlords are greedy Waterford is in danger as are others.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0716/462772-examiner-appointed-to-homebase-ireland/

Did these stores open in waterford in the boom? Then if so theres no maeket for them anymore, it ghen leaves the market open for the indigenous stores that were here first and irish owned, as sad as it is to see stores close and people lose their jobs.

Jamie2k9

spankmemunkey wrote: »

Did these stores open in waterford in the boom? Then if so theres no maeket for them anymore, it ghen leaves the market open for the indigenous stores that were here first and irish owned, as sad as it is to see stores close and people lose their jobs.

I think they opened here in 2004, Waterford was the fifth store after the 3 in Dublin and 1 in Limerick. The boom time for Homebase stared in 2005/6 after the Waterford store when they announced 6 or 7 new locations.

Did these stores open in waterford in the boom? Then if so theres no maeket for them anymore, it ghen leaves the market open for the indigenous stores that were here first and irish owned, as sad as it is to see stores close and people lose their jobs.

Its the home grown retailers who got carried away by spending millions on expanding ie Woodies etc. Homebase have remained the same.

mike65

spankmemunkey wrote: »

Did these stores open in waterford in the boom? Then if so theres no maeket for them anymore, it ghen leaves the market open for the indigenous stores that were here first and irish owned, as sad as it is to see stores close and people lose their jobs.

Ah yes that's how the market works of course.