city square

erica74

It's all a bit of a disappointment at the moment. The units which have been renovated are empty. The road is nearly finished but once it opens up again, I can see it being full of illegally parked cars again. Dunnes potentially taking up another unit?! They need at least one big clothes retailer in there, the only high street fashion retailer we have is River Island and Debenhams. I thought that big unit out the front opposite the new Carraig Donn shop would definitely be taken up by a big clothes retailer. There is a lot of empty units and no confirmation from anywhere official about what is happening. I presume the lack of information means that they haven't gotten anyone for the empty units yet?

JohnC.

erica74 wrote: »

The road is nearly finished but once it opens up again, I can see it being full of illegally parked cars again.

It won't be open. There's bus gates to stop cars during the day. Though I believe it will be open in the evening.

Deiseen

erica74 wrote: »

It's all a bit of a disappointment at the moment. The units which have been renovated are empty. The road is nearly finished but once it opens up again, I can see it being full of illegally parked cars again. Dunnes potentially taking up another unit?! They need at least one big clothes retailer in there, the only high street fashion retailer we have is River Island and Debenhams. I thought that big unit out the front opposite the new Carraig Donn shop would definitely be taken up by a big clothes retailer. There is a lot of empty units and no confirmation from anywhere official about what is happening. I presume the lack of information means that they haven't gotten anyone for the empty units yet?

We would mainly rely on UK retailers to fill these kind of units.

The problem is, at the moment, they are all in huge trouble and the last thing you are going to do is open new units when your a bit shakey on the financial front.

Pennys/Primark are the only ones who seem to be bucking the trend.

iseegirls

They surely must have had someone lined up to take these units when the renovations were being discussed and being built. Even the food court is an embarrassment of slowly adding small units in. Those small glass units opposite Dunnes Stores will never be used, and will torn down after a year. The rent they're looking for must be turning businesses away.

dartboardio

O'Briens Café and Abrakebabra almost ready to open upstairs by Chopped - again, no new places, already have an O'Briens sandwich bar across the way and an Abra down in John St for years which is kebabarama now.


Yeah i honestly think the rent is scaring places away

fargojones123

dartboardio wrote: »

O'Briens Café and Abrakebabra almost ready to open upstairs by Chopped - again, no new places, already have an O'Briens sandwich bar across the way and an Abra down in John St for years which is kebabarama now.


Yeah i honestly think the rent is scaring places away

It probably is, like how many years has the former Next shop been vacant? You would think they would fill up the vacant ones they had first before adding a massive extension.

Wanderer78

fargojones123 wrote:

It probably is, like how many years has the former Next shop been vacant? You would think they would fill up the vacant ones they had first before adding a massive extension.

If you build it, they will come, apparently!

fargojones123

Wanderer78 wrote: »

If you build it, they will come, apparently!

Except when they don't. You would think they would have clients for these before they built them.

Wanderer78

fargojones123 wrote:

Except when they don't. You would think they would have clients for these before they built them.

To fair, I'd imagine there was some indication or maybe even an official agreement before construction began, god only knows what the story is there, and factors such as Brexit certainly wouldn't be helping

CeilingFly

fargojones123 wrote: »

It probably is, like how many years has the former Next shop been vacant? You would think they would fill up the vacant ones they had first before adding a massive extension.

That had been planned for a larger Holland and Barrett but that fell through.

Rent rates and service charge for that unit is pitched at €65,000 a year. About 20,000 above its value.

fargojones123

CeilingFly wrote: »

That had been planned for a larger Holland and Barrett but that fell through.

Rent rates and service charge for that unit is pitched at €65,000 a year. About 20,000 above its value.

Ah rent rates the killer of many shops

Wanderer78

fargojones123 wrote:

Ah rent rates the killer of many shops

The closure of businesses is a lot more complex than just rent though

dartboardio

I sound like such a misery guts but I genuinely thought they'd pull it off, apparently not

azimuth17

Truth is that no one on this forum knows the exact position about what's happening in City Square. All guess work and supposition. This is a multi million Euro project which will pan out before Christmas, because that's the retail high point. If it does not, then we can all worry.

dartboardio

azimuth17 wrote: »

Truth is that no one on this forum knows the exact position about what's happening in City Square. All guess work and supposition. This is a multi million Euro project which will pan out before Christmas, because that's the retail high point. If it does not, then we can all worry.

well yeah but we're halfway there... We already know with the brand spanking new units they've put.. Carraig Donn a shop we had across the road that isn't even that popular, a 2nd starbucks in the space of a year and a half, a salad bar, and now an O'briens cafe sandwich bar and abrakebabra, (which is a definite according to the building works and posters in City Square itself

I don't even know anyone who eats in O'briens or Abrakebabra :pac:

CeilingFly

dartboardio wrote: »

Carraig Donn a shop we had across the road that isn't even that popular,

Carraig Donn only ever had a temporary lease on the unit in Georges court - they had agreed to go into city square a long time ago.

As for other units, the word is the developers want "the right tenants" and are prepared to wait. Problem is some of "the right tenants" have pulled back on expansion due to brexit and general "high street" issues and Waterford is not seen as a priority location

iseegirls

Isn't that a worry then when the north quays are complete, and we'll have all this shopping space.

Also with Michael Street shopping centre too. (if both of them get off the ground) Would they struggle, or just have better rent rates to compete?

CeilingFly

iseegirls wrote: »

Isn't that a worry then when the north quays are complete, and we'll have all this shopping space.

Also with Michael Street shopping centre too. (if both of them get off the ground) Would they struggle, or just have better rent rates to compete?

Actually it would help. Currently Waterford does not have a huge choice in retail. City Square is small, the city centre has a lot of small shops. This means less "big names".

But if you had maybe 20 "big names" , suddenly you offer a great shopping experience for the consumer from a much larger catchment area - that creates vibrancy which creates business, which creates demand, which leads to more stores.

Currently people in Kilkenny look to kildare village and Newbridge as a day out shopping destination. If Waterford had the retail space, then it would compete strongly with kildare village and Newbridge.

And in such a scenario, current rents would be seen as value! ��

dartboardio

I hope Michael St shopping centre kicks off, it's becoming the main street in Waterford, has plenty of busy shops/cafes and a great sense of community, probably one/ if not the only of my favourite streets in Waterford.

JohnC.

Looks like someone is actually taking one of the little glass boxes. It's got a reserved sign on it while the rest are still "to let".

JupiterKid

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - Waterford City Centre needs a modern
Shopping Centre that is contemporary in architecture and design, has units large enough for the big name retailers and will boost trade in the City Centre and act as a magnet for the South East region.

City Square is almost 30 years old and whilst it still serves a very useful purpose, it is from another era and is very dated. It cannot cater to the needs of the big retail operations.

As for that abomination in Ferrybank - take a wrecking ball to it.

Harry Palmr

To be fair Michael Street is on the way. City Square will clearly be second to that in the medium term.

CeilingFly

JohnC. wrote: »

Looks like someone is actually taking one of the little glass boxes. It's got a reserved sign on it while the rest are still "to let".

It will be sky tv, dyson or some crappy phone accessories place

Money is on Sky or Dyson

Sully

CeilingFly wrote: »

It will be sky tv, dyson or some crappy phone accessories place

Money is on Sky or Dyson

Too small for Sky I'd think.

There more suitable to a popup store.

CeilingFly

Sully wrote: »

Too small for Sky I'd think.

There more suitable to a popup store.

Nope - both companies have several kiosk units in centres around the country.

Dyson in particular have found this form of marketing very strong.

Hoffmans

http://www.wlrfm.com/2018/05/04/information-kiosk-removed-from-waterford-city-centre/
How much did the squander in.this yolk?

mayordenis

Easy to say in hindsight, I don't think it's too outlandish to have tried to have some manner of hub for tourist information.

fargojones123

JohnC. wrote: »

Looks like someone is actually taking one of the little glass boxes. It's got a reserved sign on it while the rest are still "to let".

Also noticed today the former Next store has a reserved sign as well.

Max Powers

fargojones123 wrote: »

Also noticed today the former Next store has a reserved sign as well.

Good to hear.

fargojones123

Looks like O'Briens and Abrakebabra will be open if not by the end of this week, they will be open next week going by the progress