Re: Re: well what about the developments popping up in the shannonside ?

Depressing article for Limerick in yesterday’s Sunday Tribune about Dunnes and future of LImerick shopping in general. I can understand Sarsfield St shutting down with the more modern Henry Street one just around the corner. I agree with the point about overshopped. With Opera Centre and Cresent extension coming on stream, is there really a need for yet another major complex out at Parkway Valley – what with existing Parkway SC , retail park and Childers Road centres within a stones throw? Are there any anchor tenants left who would even consider anchoring it. All major names are already represented in existing centres or ones under development. Article below.

DUNNES Stores is to close its shops at Sarsfield Street and O’Connell Street in Limerick next month, according to local reports. The department store has also decided to cease 24-hour trading at the Jetland shopping centre in the city. Limerick is facing a significant oversupply of shopping space at present.
“There’s far too many shops in the city. People have been saying this for ages,” said one leading retail expert.
“Limerick is overshopped. It’s as simple as that. There’s about a million square feet of retail park space lying vacant there,” said another source.
The city centre has also been struggling, with anecdotal evidence suggesting the number of vacant shops there is rising. Five shops at Sarsfield Street alone have closed in recent months.
The Opera Centre is the latest shopping centre planned for the town and Marks & Spencer will anchor that scheme. Jerry O’Reilly, Terry Sweeney and David Courtney bought the site for the shopping centre last year. The developers and hoteliers are involved in several joint ventures together including Superquinn. Rival developer Liam Carroll is also planning a major new shopping centre at Parkway Valley.
Retail research company Crest’s annual shopping centre review ranked three shopping centres in Limerick amongst the 10 worst performers in the country. In 50th and last place was Jetland shopping centre while Castletroy and Parkway were also in the bottom ten.