Clery's O'Connell Street is gone

Doctor DooM

Wanderer78 wrote: »

now that was hard to watch on rte nine news

I've known that guy since I was 16. He deserves better than this.

MouseTail

I don't think it will remain empty for long, its a prime retail spot, and an iconic location. I remember the same angst when Switzers closed.
Clerys simply didn't keep relevant to a changing consumer base, compared to Arnotts for example.

Wanderer78

Doctor DooM wrote: »

I've known that guy since I was 16. He deserves better than this.

im very saddened by this news. this will be a dreadful weekend for the staff and their families.

Kermit.de.frog

MouseTail wrote: »

I don't think it will remain empty for long

Given the area it is in and the extent to which it has been run down I can see it being vacant for quite a while and probably a lower socio economic brand will take it up eventually.


There is a mix of things at fault here in my opinion:

1. bad management
2. uncompetitive trading conditions
3. Dublin City Council overseeing and allowing the deterioration of the whole O'Connell Street area and environs which meant fewer people would go their to shop. Yes, believe it or not, making junkieville out of the northside of our city has consequences.

It's a whole mixture of things that means the store is not viable.

Wanderer78

MouseTail wrote: »

I don't think it will remain empty for long

and this is where i have a major problem with the way this whole thing works. theres 400 people out of a job now. what will they and their families do now? even if another business sets up in the building, im pretty sure it wont do much good to the staff of clearys. this disposability of employees has got to stop. it causes major problems for a society.

Kermit.de.frog

Wanderer78 wrote: »

this disposability of employees has got to stop. .

Tell us how this might be achieved. The store is bankrupt.

Mongfinder General

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Tell us how this might be achieved. The store is bankrupt.

hand over 64 billion euro to bail them out?

EricPraline

Eutow wrote: »

Still only a five minute detour from that route though. It's basically sitting on the corner of one of the busiest streets/junctions in Dublin. If that isn't a prime location I don't know what is.

It may be at the focal point of the busiest street in Ireland, but it is not a shopping street and sadly not anywhere pedestrians want to linger. In the last two decades O'Connell Street has just become somewhere you catch a bus or pass through as quickly as possible to get to Grafton Street or Henry Street. What reason to take a detour there if you don't have to?

Realistically if O'Connell Street really was prime, it would be filled with flagship stores as per Kurfürstendamm in Berlin or the better parts of the Champs-Elysées. Instead we have Dr Quirkey's. Unfortunately can't imagine the terminal decline of O'Connell Street has helped Clerys, it seemed increasingly out of place there.

Ben D Bus

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

3. Dublin City Council overseeing and allowing the deterioration of the whole O'Connell Street area and environs which meant fewer people would go their to shop. Yes, believe it or not, making junkieville out of the northside of our city has consequences.

Sadly this may be true, even if not the main cause. If nothing else, I hope this acts as a major wakeup call to those responsible for the management of the city centre.

Wanderer78

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Tell us how this might be achieved. The store is bankrupt.

you pose a very good question, a question i dont have the answer to but im sure the accountants seen this coming months back. surely a system could be put in place whereby businesses that are showing signs of serious distress, should be made to reveal this information to those that may be able to help, all in good time of course, in order to prevent these kind of serious events from happening. maybe some other posters have some other better ideas. companies dont just close down over night, its normally a series of progressive failures.

L1011

Wanderer78 wrote: »

im not convinced by this 'recovery' at all. im fearing the worst has yet to come with thousands of families facing home repossessions etc.

The recovery is already a number of years in. Consumer confidence is up hugely, consumer spending is up, unemployment and live register figures falling and exchequer returns to match

Trying to convince yourself otherwise is counter productive.

Eutow

EricPraline wrote: »

It may be at the focal point of the busiest street in Ireland, but it is not a shopping street and sadly not anywhere pedestrians want to linger. In the last two decades O'Connell Street has just become somewhere you catch a bus or pass through as quickly as possible to get to Grafton Street or Henry Street. What reason to take a detour there if you don't have to?

Realistically if O'Connell Street really was prime, it would be filled with flagship stores as per Kurfürstendamm in Berlin or the better parts of the Champs-Elysées. Instead we have Dr Quirkey's. Unfortunately can't imagine the terminal decline of O'Connell Street has helped Clerys, it seemed increasingly out of place there.

Sadly I have to agree. Due to poor planning and high rents it has been allowed to get to this state.

Kermit.de.frog

Wanderer78 wrote: »

companies dont just close down over night, its normally a series of progressive failures.

It's a lot more delicate then that though.


One example - if a company was to say it was in trouble a year before bankruptcy what supplier would touch them? None.

That is just one problem. There are certain things that perversely have to remain quiet for practical trading reasons.

At the end of the day (and I have been saying this for years) the area has been intentionally and fecklessly run down and damn all done about it. Hence people rarely shop there now. This is just one consequence of the feckless management of the city center.

As a poster above said. Even Cleary's as it was was increasingly out of place in the area.

Wanderer78

L1011 wrote: »

The recovery is already a number of years in. Consumer confidence is up hugely, consumer spending is up, unemployment and live register figures falling and exchequer returns to match

Trying to convince yourself otherwise is counter productive.

i find this language very very odd! you remind me of how david mcwilliams felt during the banking crisis and the lead up to it. he was ridiculed for warning people about it. people told him, talking down the economy was dangerous talk! be very very very careful. im not convinced at all by this recovery. not one bit.

all im seeing is many many families struggling. not convinced at all and you wont convince me either

porsche959

So the iconic Clery's survived two world wars, the eighties recession, the 2008/2009 bust, but didn't manage to survive the Fine Gael/Liebour "recovery"!

SEPT 23 1989

this is the real economy not some shiney tax dodge

Wanderer78

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

It's a lot more delicate then that though.


One example - if a company was to say it was in trouble a year before bankruptcy what supplier would touch them? None.

That is just one problem. There are certain things that perversely have to remain quiet for practical trading reasons.

At the end of the day (and I have been saying this for years) the area has been intentionally and fecklessly run down and damn all done about it. Hence people rarely shop there now. This is just one consequence of the feckless management of the city center.

As a poster above said. Even Cleary's as it was was increasingly out of place in the area.

yea i know what your saying, its not clear cut at all but surely there must be ways of preventing these dreadful incidences.

Streetwalker

Such sad news. Loved the store and had bucket loads of character compared to the same old same on grafton street/retail outlets etc... O'Connell street is such a fantastic street packed full of everything that makes Dublin a great city. It will be missed.

ollaetta

Yellowblackbird wrote: »

It's a grand building. Maybe they could put in some amusements.
A burger and chip place upstairs. Snooker on the top floor.

Way off the mark. It will be a much needed methadone clinic.

Seriously though, that's very bad news. Sad to see it go.

Ben D Bus

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

this is the real economy not some shiney tax dodge

No, the real economy is doing very well. Retail is up over 8% in the last year and yet this still happened. This is poor management, both of the store and of the city centre.

http://www.retailireland.ie/IBEC/Press/PressPublicationsdoclib3.nsf/wvRINewsByTitle/retail-recovery-strengthens-as-sales-accelerate-in-april-28-05-2015?OpenDocument

Corruptedmorals

Very sad news, and made worse when the staff have no notice.

I did feel the flood damage and length of time they stopped trading (while presumably having to still pay staff) last year or the year before would have been an extreme burden to them when business wasnt great anyway.

Celly Smunt

Was never my favourite shop and honestly it was a shop i completely forgot about. I'm guessing that is the crux of it. It is out of the shoppers eye and mind but not only that, what was there in clearys that you couldn't get cheaper or more convieniently elsewhere?.

We see arnotts advertised everywhere along with brown thomas and to a certain extent debenhams, cleary's however not so much. It appealed to the older generation i suppose and cut itself off from the younger shopper. It was only a matter of time.

Used to always see santy there though, those were the days.

WomanSkirtFan8

Miaireland wrote: »

My heart goes out to the staff of Clerys.

Mine too. Its going to be a difficult one for all of them, especially for those who have served the company for the longest amount of time (over 30 years plus, etc.)

micar

Terrible terrible news. Fantastic building for a department store but in a crap location. This would never have happened is clerys and the gpo were the other way round.

Bad feeling the shop is gone for good
good

Will probably be turned into a hotel or worse apartments
.
Sad sad day

The only time in recent years I ever went there was to use the atm.

Was in there years ago early one Saturday morning buy something for my mam. Was being followed by security man. The place was empty. Felt so insulted. Wanted to complain but just walked out.

L1011

Wanderer78 wrote: »

i find this language very very odd! you remind me of how david mcwilliams felt during the banking crisis and the lead up to it. he was ridiculed for warning people about it. people told him, talking down the economy was dangerous talk! be very very very careful. im not convinced at all by this recovery. not one bit.

Towards the crash, McWilliams et al were going against what the actual figures showed.

Right now, that's you.

Wanderer78 wrote: »

all im seeing is many many families struggling. not convinced at all and you wont convince me either

Stop reading tabloid "media"

Hollister11

I really hope that if clearys doesn't find a buyer for the business that another business opens up in its place. It would be a shame for it to be turned into apartments.
Great spot for an Apple Store.

Celly Smunt

Wonder if it would take much convincing for tk maxx to move from the ilac to clery's...

Wanderer78

L1011 wrote: »

Towards the crash, McWilliams et al were going against what the actual figures showed.

Right now, that's you.



Stop reading tabloid "media"

ive studied science and engineering to a fairly high level. numbers can always be manipulated, always, to give you the answer you want. ive even seen this in the work place. i ignore pretty much all numbers. i will be convinced when i see far less families struggling. i will be convinced when i see far less amounts of families facing repossessions of homes. i will be convinced when i see far more money being invested into things like affordable homes and far better public services etc. id like to know if many people reading this are truly seeing and feeling a recovery? has your life improved greatly in the last few years? are you less stressed and financially better off? im not seeing any of that right now. im not convinced. im fearing theres going to be far more job losses before we truly get going again. oh dont forget, ireland isnt just dublin. not all parts of ireland are feeling this 'recovery' yet.

oh i dont read tabloids or any other papers for that matter

Thargor

I havent gone in in about 2 years, I do remember thinking they were seriously overstaffed the last time I was there, like one member of staff per customer, especially in the makeup/female clothing areas, 2-3 women to a counter, multiple counters, separate counters for individual product ranges! 2 women down in the books department even though it was just off to the side of all the other tills, I was the only one in there, same for electronics, 3 lads standing around talking to each other, I asked to see ebook readers, I was directed to some kind of secondary electronics area with 2 more members of staff on tills in another empty department.

It was probably the prices that killed them though, people are just too price savvy these days with the internet in their pocket.

Stheno

Wanderer78 wrote: »

i find this language very very odd! you remind me of how david mcwilliams felt during the banking crisis and the lead up to it. he was ridiculed for warning people about it. people told him, talking down the economy was dangerous talk! be very very very careful. im not convinced at all by this recovery. not one bit.

all im seeing is many many families struggling. not convinced at all and you wont convince me either

All of the official figures are the opposite end of what you are saying, unemployment is at it's lowest since 2007, tax take is ahead of target as two examples

L1011 wrote: »

Towards the crash, McWilliams et al were going against what the actual figures showed.

Right now, that's you.



Stop reading tabloid "media"

Exactly

Wanderer78 wrote: »

ive studied science and engineering to a fairly high level. numbers can always be manipulated, always, to give you the answer you want. ive even seen this in the work place. i ignore pretty much all numbers. i will be convinced when i see far less families struggling. i will be convinced when i see far less amounts of families facing repossessions of homes. i will be convinced when i see far more money being invested into things like affordable homes and far better public services etc. id like to know if many people reading this are truly seeing and feeling a recovery? has your life improved greatly in the last few years? are you less stressed and financially better off? im not seeing any of that right now. im not convinced. im fearing theres going to be far more job losses before we truly get going again. oh dont forget, ireland isnt just dublin. not all parts of ireland are feeling this 'recovery' yet.

oh i dont read tabloids or any other papers for that matter

There is more being invested into affordable/council housing, did you miss the plan announced for Dublin this month as an example?
I'm in a startup and seeing a massive increase in business opportunities which are coming to fruition, am better off now than during the boom.

Maybe you should start reading some papers? Your view is one that is very skewed from the stats coming out from the Troika, the Government and even the international agencies who grade us in terms of credit rating.