Clery's O'Connell Street is gone

delahuntv

Yes it's sad, but not surprising - and the unions knew it had no hope of survival.

In early May, the new owners were the preferred bidder for the store which was for sale. Siptu even commented that it was hoped that retail would form a part of any plans. The market knew that a mix of retail, offices and possibly hotel would be the most logical move.

4.5m loss in just over 2 years!!! And that excludes the concessions. So per employee the loss was running at almost 15k per employee per year. At that level the high Court had no option but to install liquidators.

Where it went wrong? Shopping has changed. Internet and town centres like Dundrum have appeared. Old style stores like Clerys have been bypassed - its far too big and Dublin just no longer has shopping population for 3 large department stores in the city

On the jobs - in Dublin, June is a great month to find retail jobs especially for those with experience. Many staff of concessions will move to other stores. Many other staff should not find it too difficult for new employment - and they'll have a little redundancy payment to ease the transition.

So yes it's sad, but it simply did not move with the market. I looked at operating a concession unit there last year, I declined. The footfall simply was not there. It was a case of when rather than if they would close.

SpaceTime

There's a major problem with the way it's used as a transit hub by Dublin Bus. They don't need to terminate busses there at all. They could simply drive through.

This is part of the problem with not having the city councils involved in public transit planning. In most continental cities the council controls and often even owns the public transit system.

markpb

SpaceTime wrote: »

There's a major problem with the way it's used as a transit hub by Dublin Bus. They don't need to terminate busses there at all. They could simply drive through.

I'm not aware of any buses terminating on O'Connell st.

Daisy78

To be honest I think the owners missed a trick a few years ago when they reopened the store to create something more unique, a more individual and one of a kind shopping experience for their customers. In light of the fact that a lot of the brands they currently stock are available elsewhere in the city not to mention online I thought they might focus in on more bespoke, indigenous and boutique type brands which would actually draw people to the store (including southsiders who might actually cross the river!). The world of retail is changing and I think management need to be a bit more creative in how they market their stores. Even the layout was a mess, it always felt quite cluttered to me, with no real thought given to how best to present the stock. Pluses were the friendly staff and some of the beauty products they stocked.

All in all, as others have said if this store is to be successful in the medium to long term it will heavily depend on the rennovation of the greater O Connell St area, which is becoming less and less appealing by the day as a place to frequent, never mind shop.

shamrock2004

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 couldnt disagree more. Youre drinking the kool aid.

Our consumer confidence is driven by property and mcwilliams said he has never seen a country like ireland in that as house prices rise, demand and consumer confidence rises. Live register figures never include the numbers emigrating due to no job / ridiculous amount of tax you pay in this country.

delahuntv

SpaceTime wrote: »

There's a major problem with the way it's used as a transit hub by Dublin Bus. They don't need to terminate busses there at all. They could simply drive through.

This is part of the problem with not having the city councils involved in public transit planning. In most continental cities the council controls and often even owns the public transit system.

The city council do have a very big say in transport issues - if anything the number of busses stopping was a huge benefit to the store.

It's stock and general boring atmosphere was what killed it.

delahuntv

shamrock2004 wrote: »

I couldnt disagree more. Youre drinking the kool aid.

Our consumer confidence is driven by property and mcwilliams said he has never seen a country like ireland in that as house prices rise, demand and consumer confidence rises. Live register figures never include the numbers emigrating due to no job / ridiculous amount of tax you pay in this country.

Try checking real cso figures.

Recovery is jobs driven. It is NOT property driven.
Quarterly jobs report give detailed job figures including emigration / immigration / permanent / part time and average wage. The quarterly report is the only report to go on - live register will just give a trend as it includes all those getting some form of jobseeker allowance including part time, those with disabilities and those who can't work for various reasons.

Clerys closed because it didn't move with the times. The store was boring and unattractive

SpaceTime

markpb wrote: »

I'm not aware of any buses terminating on O'Connell st.

Quite a few stop and sit there as an intermediate long stop.

micosoft

Wanderer78 wrote: »

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.

That is terrible advise. For a start if distress was made public all suppliers to the store would stop supplying it. Essentially you'd shut down the store before the management had a chance to turn it around.Who are these wondrous people outside of the management team who are going to help? Competitors? You've really not thought this through....

No business has an inalienable right to exist forever. They fail all the time. The important thing is you create an economic environment where NEW businesses come in to replace failed models. It really is that simple. It doesn't help employees to pretend otherwise.

Grid.

Sad state of affairs.

Stheno

Some of the staff found out via facebook!

How craps is that?

Atlantic Dawn

What kind of exceptional tool pays €5000 in cash as a deposit for furniture?

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0613/707852-clerys/

Gerry Marker, who worked in Clerys for 34 years, said he was concerned that customers who had paid large cash deposits would now be left with nothing.

He said earlier this week he had taken €5,000 in cash from a woman who had ordered bedroom furniture.

L1011

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

What kind of exceptional tool pays €5000 in cash as a deposit for furniture?

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0613/707852-clerys/

Likely full payment - their furniture was eyewateringly dear but not THAT dear.

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I notice there hasn't been any mention of Boyers in this thread. Does Clery's still own Boyers?

Clerys owned Guineys (not Michael Guineys) which closed with the last receivership - Boyers is Arnotts.

L1011

shamrock2004 wrote: »

I couldnt disagree more. Youre drinking the kool aid.

Our consumer confidence is driven by property and mcwilliams said he has never seen a country like ireland in that as house prices rise, demand and consumer confidence rises. Live register figures never include the numbers emigrating due to no job / ridiculous amount of tax you pay in this country.

House prices pretty much stopped rising for the entire first half of the year. Consumer confidence continued rising.

Live register figures don't include emigration but the CSO provides statistics on that and its insignificant. However, total numbers in employment are rising and fast. Total tax take in this country is far below pretty much any other western european nation.

The figures do not agree with your viewpoint at all.

Our terrible print media and the even worse new breed of political parties who thrive on misery may want to convince you otherwise but there is significant jobs growth - not construction driven - and a general increase in economic activity, also not construction driven.

Muahahaha

Wanderer78 wrote: »

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.

There is such a system, a company in trading difficulty can apply to the High Court to go into examinership, the company has to show the courts that they stand some chance of surviving- if they can convince the judge of that then they typically get 90 days to sort out the financial problems, during this period creditors cant call in debts, effectively it gives a normally profitable company breathing space to sort their books out and get back trading solvently again. In the case of Clearys it seems the new owners have no intention of carrying on the business in its current guise so applying for examinership wasn't likely an option they ever considered.

AMKC wrote: »

Eason,s is still there yes. There is also DrQuirky,s Emporium as well and the Dublin Bus head quarters.

I heard the company that bought Clearys plans to build a shopping centre there. As if another one is needed. I think its very sad that it is now gone but that a John Lewis there would be a great solution. It is up to the new company that now owns the building as to what happens now do.

John Lewis would go very well there. That said though they'd need a lot of custom coming from the southside and for that to happen crossing over O'Connell bridge needs to be made a lot more pedestrian friendly than it is right now. Wider footpaths on the bridge itself and pedestrian light sequences that allow crossing without long waits for traffic would be essential.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

End of an era and very sad. I admit I rarely went into Clery's, but it was comforting to know it was there. I hope it doesn't become just another generic multi national store.
We've lost Roches, Switzers. Quinnsworth, and so many other shops that were uniquely Irish. It's really sad.

delahuntv

Muahahaha wrote: »

There is such a system, a company in trading difficulty can apply to the High Court to go into examinership, the company has to show the courts that they stand some chance of surviving- if they can convince the judge of that then they typically get 90 days to sort out the financial problems, during this period creditors cant call in debts, effectively it gives a normally profitable company breathing space to sort their books out and get back trading solvently again. In the case of Clearys it seems the new owners have no intention of carrying on the business in its current guise so applying for examinership wasn't likely an option they ever considered.



John Lewis would go very well there. That said though they'd need a lot of custom coming from the southside and for that to happen crossing over O'Connell bridge needs to be made a lot more pedestrian friendly than it is right now. Wider footpaths on the bridge itself and pedestrian light sequences that allow crossing without long waits for traffic would be essential.

If John Lewis is going anywhere it will be cherrywood.

As for examinership - you have to show a chance of survival. At 4.5 MILLION loss in just over 2 years, the chances are below zero.

The new owners just had no choice but they could have done it better - only problem though is if word got out that it was going into liquidation before it actually happened it would have been mayhem with suppliers and concession owners trying to get stock out as quickly as possible as until a liquidator is appointed they would have that right.

They still get their goods back, but it will be done in an orderly manner.

Dublinhurler

I have shopped a few times a year in Clearys especially at Christmas time. I drove past it todaqy and it really hit me just seen the shutters down and the place closed. Passers by looking to see why it wasn't open who hadn't heard. Its such an iconic building and another great store closed. I really hope something unique comes and not just the usual multi national crap.

Very sad day seeing it closed down

ProudDUB

Luciano Nervous Cuff wrote: »

End of an era and very sad. I admit I rarely went into Clery's, but it was comforting to know it was there. I hope it doesn't become just another generic multi national store.
We've lost Roches, Switzers. Quinnsworth, and so many other shops that were uniquely Irish. It's really sad.

Agree 100%

I'd hate it to turn into yet another clone of yet another UK chain of department stores. Or yet another soulless shopping centre like the Jervis Centre, which is about as Irish as Picadilly Circus. It would be great if someone with a bit of vision could do the place up and provide a showcase for Irish designers & manufacturers (of everything from clothes, to leather goods, to furniture to jewelry to cheese to pottery) that could take advantage of the massive footfall on the street.

Then there are the massive numbers of tourists who would probably love to buy something quality that is uniquely Irish, instead of all that Made in Taiwan tat in Carrolls. Or have a section that is an artisan food market, like Pike Place in Seattle or the English Market in Cork. And have the "look" and feel of the place be a place that people would actually enjoy being in, like Powerscourt Town House.

I dunno, I'm just throwing mad ideas out there. It would take someone with a bit of vision and some massive balls to take such a project on and make it work. Not things that we are all that well known for, considering that we have had 100 years to get ready for the centenary of the 1916 Rising, yet the area in general still looks like it did the morning after HMS Helga sailed up the Liffey and shelled the bejayzus out of the area.

Oh well...:rolleyes:

Long Gone

Luciano Nervous Cuff wrote: »

We've lost Roches, Switzers. Quinnsworth, and so many other shops that were uniquely Irish. It's really sad.

I agree apart from Quinnsworth - I wasn't sad to see the back of them and (particularly) Maurice the Pratt.... :mad:

Stheno

Long Gone wrote: »

I agree apart from Quinnsworth - I wasn't sad to see the back of them and (particularly) Maurice the Pratt.... :mad:

Sure he's in bulmers now is he not?

Luciano Nervous Cuff

Luciano Nervous Cuff wrote: »

End of an era and very sad. I admit I rarely went into Clery's, but it was comforting to know it was there. I hope it doesn't become just another generic multi national store.
We've lost Roches, Switzers. Quinnsworth, and so many other shops that were uniquely Irish. It's really sad.

I seriously do not understand this sentiment! You admit that you rarely went in but somehow it gave you comfort?!?

If people thought the shop was of any use, they would have shopped there. If they had shopped there, they wouldn't be bankrupt.

Its sad for the workers, but even if they did turn it into another generic shop, I would be happy as long as it was busy and creating revenue rather than just being some romanticised notion that people hold.

We didn't lose it, we decided we didnt want to shop there. It's not sad.

Spanish Eyes

ProudDUB wrote: »

Agree 100%

I'd hate it to turn into yet another clone of yet another UK chain of department stores. Or yet another soulless shopping centre like the Jervis Centre, which is about as Irish as Picadilly Circus. It would be great if someone with a bit of vision could do the place up and provide a showcase for Irish designers & manufacturers (of everything from clothes, to leather goods, to furniture to jewelry to cheese to pottery) that could take advantage of the massive footfall on the street.

Then there are the massive numbers of tourists who would probably love to buy something quality that is uniquely Irish, instead of all that Made in Taiwan tat in Carrolls. Or have a section that is an artisan food market, like Pike Place in Seattle or the English Market in Cork. And have the "look" and feel of the place be a place that people would actually enjoy being in, like Powerscourt Town House.

I dunno, I'm just throwing mad ideas out there. It would take someone with a bit of vision and some massive balls to take such a project on and make it work. Not things that we are all that well known for, considering that we have had 100 years to get ready for the centenary of the 1916 Rising, yet the area in general still looks like it did the morning after HMS Helga sailed up the Liffey and shelled the bejayzus out of the area.

Oh well...:rolleyes:

Yes, we all think that we should promote IRISH and artisan stuff. It is a niche market though let's be honest. Would you buy it every week?

Unfortunately it is not what the majority want these days. You know, labels, labels, and more labels. Just look at trainer shoes FGS. You couldn't keep up. And online shopping has replaced a lot of visits to town now aswell.

The Markets area in Smithfield is being reburbished (when I don't know) which will be a great thing, kind of like the English Market.

O'Connell Street has so much potential. But it has morphed into a tacky Champs Elysee kind of street, where everyone knows it's a kip and just bypasses it now.

Thank you Dublin City Council.

fryup

Mike Ashley might buy it and make into one big Sports Direct store...

classy

themandan6611

Luciano Nervous Cuff wrote: »

We've lost Roches, Switzers. Quinnsworth, and so many other shops that were uniquely Irish. It's really sad.

we will always have O'Carrolls

ProudDUB

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Yes, we all think that we should promote IRISH and artisan stuff. It is a niche market though let's be honest. Would you buy it every week?

Unfortunately it is not what the majority want these days. You know, labels, labels, and more labels. Just look at trainer shoes FGS. You couldn't keep up. And online shopping has replaced a lot of visits to town now aswell.

Well, I can only speak for myself, but I shop in Avoca and Kilkenny Design quite a bit. I do a fair bit of my Xmas shopping there and, they would be my first ports of call if there is a wedding/birthday/christening that I need a gift for. Granted, they don't sell Irish stuff exclusively, but they sell enough of it to make me feel that I am getting something unique and that I am supporting home grown products and companies. That matters to me. And going by how well they are both doing, I imagine that it matters to other people too.

Or maybe they just have lots of really cool stuff that people - including all those tourists with the deep pockets - want to buy. Clearys should know that. Thirty years ago, they were the go to place for all the Yanks to stock up on Waterford Crystal and linen table clothes covered in embroidered shamrocks. Or it was the place for us Paddys to get a nice gift of china or table mats for someones wedding. But times have changed. The Yanks couldn't be arsed buying Waterford Crystal in the mad droves that they used to. We Irish don't give toasters and Wedgewood gravy boats for wedding prezzies anymore.

Times have changed and so have peoples spending habits. We all know that. But Clearys don't seem to.

KungPao

Come on folks, the store is called "Clerys" not "Cleary's".

But yeah, RIP Cleairys'.

matrim

ProudDUB wrote: »

Agree 100%

I'd hate it to turn into yet another clone of yet another UK chain of department stores. Or yet another soulless shopping centre like the Jervis Centre, which is about as Irish as Picadilly Circus. It would be great if someone with a bit of vision could do the place up and provide a showcase for Irish designers & manufacturers (of everything from clothes, to leather goods, to furniture to jewelry to cheese to pottery) that could take advantage of the massive footfall on the street.

Then there are the massive numbers of tourists who would probably love to buy something quality that is uniquely Irish, instead of all that Made in Taiwan tat in Carrolls. Or have a section that is an artisan food market, like Pike Place in Seattle or the English Market in Cork. And have the "look" and feel of the place be a place that people would actually enjoy being in, like Powerscourt Town House.

I dunno, I'm just throwing mad ideas out there. It would take someone with a bit of vision and some massive balls to take such a project on and make it work. Not things that we are all that well known for, considering that we have had 100 years to get ready for the centenary of the 1916 Rising, yet the area in general still looks like it did the morning after HMS Helga sailed up the Liffey and shelled the bejayzus out of the area.

Oh well...:rolleyes:

From what I could see of Clearys there was very little to distinguish them from any other store (UK, Irish or otherwise). The only thing it had going for it was the name and building. Loads of people are saying what a shame it is but it's always qualified by I never bought anything there.

I was in there a few weeks ago and all the brands were exactly the same as what you'd see in other shops Levi, Lacoste, Tommy Hilifiger, Jack&Jones, etc. There was nothing that I saw that you couldn’t get in another shop within about a 5 minute walk of the Clerys front door.

I feel bad for the staff but they should get their redundancy and will hopefully be able to pick up a new job quickly.

I just hope that the building is now put to a use that will see people actually enjoy it and can bring a genuine attraction to the area.

suicide_circus

O'Connell street is f*cked. It's a bus stop. The top end brings you on to parnell street and dorset street which are both ropey as f*ck. Abbey street, talbot street, Marlborough street, Gardiner street, cathal brugha street, Amiens street....that whole area is scauldy to f*ck populated by brass monkeys. Its actually a wonder that Clerys survived this long

January

suicide_circus, please take a minute to read the forums charter before posting here again.