The Sunday Supplement | Retail Icons no more ?

Another week, another long week in retail. I am shrouded by failure. I look outside to see another 'To Let' sign beside me with the loss of Noble & Beggerman, an excelent and progressive book store. Behind me on Fade street we loose Road Records, an Icon. Then of course, we all know by now, that you and I now have an interest in Arnotts, the heart of Dublin since 1840 now in the hands of the Banks.

I mention Clery's as they feature on the front page of todays Sunday Independent alongside Anne Harris' heart felt agony for retail and Dublin in general. Clery's and Arnotts are close to my heart, they were where I and my Family have spent generations, shopping for School Uniforms to visiting Santa.

( It was tradition to meet your date under the clock at Clery's)

Clery's are on their knees for not being progressive - Best's now run most of their mens, alongside other concessions - whilst Arnotts have been knee-capped for being grossly progressive. That is Ireland and the Irish. The teatotaller and the piss head. The Ryanair and the Aer Lingus.

Arnotts ill-fated 'Northern Quarter' would have transfomed our city but ultimately, what good would have come of that ? Arnotts itself is steeped in tradition, yet now and even more so had the Northern Quarter come to fruition - it has lost those traditions. Much like Clery's it is unrecognisable to my grandmother, even to the times of my childhood. They sold their souls a long time ago, they sold out. No longer are they in control of their own businesses because they rely on other concessions to tell them their business.

Do a walk through of each department store and compare it to the rest of the high-street. It's the same names, the same fashions and worryingly the same standards. Hindsight is a great thing if used. Arnotts never needed the Jervis store, they got caught out by planning, anticipating the above mentioned development. They were tied in to a lease and business that cost them €40 million and the Arnotts business we all know.

Indeed the old Irish Indpendent's age old offices were bought by Arnotts for their 'Northern Quarter' and now lie boarded up mostly with Arnotts bargain basement beneath. Dublin does'nt and never needed a Northern Quarter full of more high-street shite. some rich folk speculators thought they would get rich on some mega-retail action but these feckin eejits were not retailers. If they were they would have known that every high-street name was here bar 1 or 2. Who would fill this space ? Not to mention who would shop here ? How many people live on this Island ?

The time has come to make a stand

Retail is a massive employer in this country but we need to be working for bosses who understand this country and whom are comitted to making it a better place for all, not just a few. Any big high-street player is capable of pulling the plug tomorrow, what we need are Irish retailers who employ Irish residents. there needs to be a heart to business. It cannot be spreadsheet driven any longer. the maths got us into this trouble.

I want to be able to bring my grandson to Santa in an Arnotts or Clery's that is Irish and embodies those qualities.

Please support Irish owned businesses that you want your kids and grand-children to experience. Every person makes a difference.

 Below is a REAL story:

ROAD RECORDS IS CLOSING DOWN !

How do I begin a piece like this, without repeating everything I wrote nearly two years ago now.

I suppose I would have to say its with great sadness to inform you we are finally closing the doors of Road Records.

Its been a difficult two years since we first faced the prospects of closure and we have literally worked night and day to try and see if we could save the shop and make it a viable business again. The current economic situation in this country added to the many problems we faced in the past have finally caught up with us and we can no longer sustain this little shop.

This time, I am sad to say, there is no alternative for us, we have literally tried everything in our powers to keep this place operating and nothing has worked for us. It hasn’t been an easy decision to make, if anything its even more difficult than two years ago, we have had amazing support from people but nothing we do seems to work anymore.

With debts beginning to build again Julie and myself have finally decided that we cannot take any more risks personally and before things get any worse we will have to finally walk away from the shop for the last time.

I have to say I still have no regrets about the last 13 years, its been a real blast and a pleasure to be here over the years. We have met some amazing people and have become friends with some truly amazing bands. The level of support we have received since last year has been truly mindblowing but so much has changed economically since then that its just not possible to sustain such a small record shop like this anymore.

I am not going to give out about the music business this time around, its just one of those things and we have finally come to a stage where I think the days of the small indie store are numbered. It’s sad to have to admit that but this time I think its true, we can’t blame digital sales, illegal downloading etc, the world is a changing place and I can’t see any room in it for kooky little indie stores like ourselves.

We will be starting our closing down sale this Saturday [17th July] and everything will be on sale at a 25% reduction. We will be open for just one more week after that with the final day being Saturday 24th of July. Literally everything will be going on sale so if you want to pick up a cheap stereo, cash register or stapler, then do drop in.

We would both like to thank each and everyone of you for your support over the years, maybe we will catch up at some point in the future.

We would also like to thank all our wonderful staff from the last 14 years, in person they are – Dylan, Jonny, Jimmy, Gib, Colm, John, Chip and Aengus.

As for what we will do next, the honest answer is we really don’t know, hopefully we can pay off any debts we have and then at least we have a beautiful little baby boy to try and put a smile back on our faces.

Thanks & Adios

Dave and Julie