*Members of the public walk on O’Connell St. Photograph: John Mangan
TRADERS IN Ennis have said the impact of the public realm works on business have been “an absolute disaster” but they remain hopeful the county town will look “fantastic” but have warned that a big challenge exists in enticing shoppers back to the town centre.
The Clare Echo this week polled businesses based in Ennis Town Centre on O’Connell St, High Street, Bank Place and Abbey Street on the impact of the public realm works to their trade. The majority (44%) stated that the public realm works have had a negative impact on their business, a third (33%) have said they have experienced a significant negative impact while under a fifth (18%) have experienced no impact.
Eleven percent of the business owners flagged that there is insufficient parking in the town regardless of the ongoing public realm works. Some clothing stores have admitted their trade is down thirty percent this year and others have revealed that if it were not for online sales they would be in a much worse position and have pointed out the public have less disposable income to spend.
Many businesses highlighted that the impact of the works was at its worst when barriers were directly outside their door. A common theme is a sense of hope among business owners that works can be expedited and that the finished product will be an improved look for the county town. The loss of tourists and window shoppers has also been lamented, “tourists are coming in by the Temple Gate and they must think they are arriving in Beirut,” remarked one retailer.
Hotels in the town centre have been forced to give reduced rates and they have been prevented from offering rooms situated along O’Connell Street due to the noise. A restauranteur said, “The street will look lovely but what businesses will be left by the time the work is done. There are also questions on how cars and pedestrians will be able to share the road space with the new surface. Absolutely we need to improve the town but it could have been done in a staggered way where entire streets were not shut down”.
Clinic coordinator of Hidden Hearing, Kara Moylan located at O’Connell Square outlined that the works have been “an absolute disaster” for how their business operates. “We’ve had to cancel hearing tests because people can’t hear properly with all the noise outside”. She said they have been forced to redo tests and bring people back for repeat examinations.
Carraig Donn has 43 stores nationwide, Martina Cusack is store manager in Ennis where they are situated in Bank Place. She said the trends of customers have changed due to the public realm works. “Customers can’t access the shop because they can’t get parking. Then when they do get parking, they are still struggling with access because they have to cross from one side of the street with barriers to the other. People talk and they are all saying what is going on in Ennis because it is easier to shop elsewhere. I had a day off last week and I met four regular shoppers in Ennis who have now started shopping in Kilrush and they said it is much easier for them to shop there. They should be working day and night to get this done. It is a disaster and they have no idea the impact this is having on businesses in the town”.
Katie Rogers who opened boutique jewellery store Blackbird in October 2019 on Bank Place, made a similar observation, “people’s habits have changed in how they shop but the works have still had an impact across the town”.
Former retailer of the year, Jean McCabe has helped Willow become a nationally recognised boutique. She stated, “Ennis badly needed the works and it will be great when it is done but it is a shame that it is taking so long to complete it. The habits of shoppers have changed and it is going to be a big challenge to try get people back into town who have different routines now”.
Patrick Bourke is one of the county’s most prominent business men with menswear stores on High Street in Ennis and The Square in Kilrush. He said shopping trends have changed. It seems that by the time the town gets fully reopened that people’s routine of shopping will have changed and getting people back into town is going to be the biggest challenge. Generally the trend is that we’re not busy until 11am and then everything disappears from 5:30pm to 6pm. We’ve lost out on the window shopper and the tourists, people are only coming to us if they have a purpose, births, marriages and deaths are what are bringing people in, the window or occasional shopper is not there because it is not worth the hassle for them to come into town”. He continued, “People living west of Fanny O’Deas are not coming into Ennis to do their shopping anymore, they are going to Kilrush and it is same for people in Kildysart and Miltown because they have other options and less hassle”.
Marguerite Jordan of Mods & Minis, the children’s clothing and occasional wear store explained, “It has had an impact on us and our customers accessing the shop, a lot of our customers would be the elderly in buying items for their grandchildren. It will be fabulous when it’s done but it is taking a long while. Christmas is our peak season and we need to be able to trade properly for that”.
Accessibility for the elderly was also flagged by staff of the Eye Care Centre in O’Connell Square who have said their customers are finding it difficult to navigate through the town. “They would have been dropped outside the door in the past but now if you stop for two minutes to try let them out of the car the people behind are beeping and it takes them a while to get out of the car”.
MF Casey Printing is a century old family business which has been selling school and office supplies behind the Daniel O’Connell Monument at The Height since 1945. Martin Casey observed, “town centre footfall is significantly down, people are reluctant to come into the town because they can’t access the town centre with all the works and they are also finding parking very difficult to find. Anybody who does into town should be applauded because it is not easy”.
Soudd Admane of O’Connell Street Barber admitted, “it has affected business of course, it has hit up to fifty percent of our income. It is always dirty outside and we have to clean it ourselves so we are always cleaning the shop front on top of everything else we have to do”.
Staff attached to the contractor were also criticised by Peter Kiesiel of Phone Fixer on O’Connell Street. “People are walking on the other side of the street and they can’t see our shop and when they can see it, sometimes they haven’t been able to access it. I am angry because they (the workers) don’t clean up after themselves, they split concrete on my window twice. The noise is over 120-140 decibels with no protection to people”.
Milo Tierney of Tierney’s Shop on Abbey Street lambasted the length of time it is taking to do the job. “How is it taking so long to do a job that should only take one year. Any time I go down the street, I see five men standing around looking into a hole that has one man inside in it. It wouldn’t happen in any country in the world only here that it can take so long to get something done”.
Ennis Photoshop on High Street has been in existence since 1984, owner Pat Kelly said, “people tell us it is down to no parking that they haven’t been coming to Ennis and now people can’t walk around Ennis with the lack of accessibility. Once a business is gone it’s gone and people need to remember that”.
An improvement in business has been experienced by Hillbilly’s Restaurant on O’Connell Street according to Tony Sun. “We’re getting more business as a result of the traffic restrictions but that is on the delivery side, we would have less people coming into the restaurant because people are having difficulties getting parking but we have recorded an increase in business through the deliveries”.
Trends have been visible, Tommy O’Donnell of T O’Donnell Sports noted, “Business is down and the town is shutting down earlier, from 3pm onwards there is very little activity for businesses”.
Stephen O’Callaghan of Cartridge Plus on Abbey Street believed it would take time to fully digest the impact of the works. He admitted that his business has experienced no impact. “My opinion is that the jury is still out because we don’t get to undo the work once it is done, so we won’t get another crack at it. There is a loss of trade in the town in that people tend to be very habitual so it might be hard to get people back into town if they have changed their habits”.
Footfall is down which is hurting businesses, Frank Holly of Holly’s Haven Pharmacy on Abbey Street commented. “What we’ve seen is a significant downturn in footfall. We’re down nine percent in footfall and customers through the door which may not seem too significant but coupled with the rising costs of everything in business it is a challenging trading environment. We’re lucky in pharma that it is quite a resilient industry compared to other businesses so I’d have sympathy for the businesses in O’Connell Square”.
Greater clarity needs to be provided from Clare County Council on timelines regarding the works, stressed Laura Gough of O’Sulivan Pharmacy on O’Connell Street. “It would be ideal if Clare County Council could give us an idea on when they are finishing up for the Christmas period. With pharmacies in Ennis, people have a monopoly to choose from so if they find it difficult to access one, they are going to go somewhere else because there is so much choice. We need to more on the plans for when works are stopping and then finishing and how the town is going to be made presentable for the Christmas period”.
Gerry Connellan of Abbey Newsagents said the impact has not been felt in Abbey Street as of yet but the same cannot be said for other parts of the town, he flagged. “The works are taking far too long, it is a two year job for a job that should take six months. There is not a coordinated plan in place and once again businesses in Ennis are feeling the impact”.
Ennis’ streets are not a natural fit for the public realm works, maintained John O’Connor of Custy’s Music Shop. “Everyone says the works will be grand and the streets will look lovely but it is generic and it doesn’t suit a medieval town like Ennis. Someone must have come up with all these plans during COVID for all towns to have the similar type of design because it is a sameness”.
Noel Tierney of Tierney’s Cycles on Abbey Street noted that the difficulties are even greater for business owners who do not own their property. “I’m here for the whole town, that is what I’m interested in. My business is as important as the next person’s business, people have to come into me because there aren’t too many bicycle shops but they have to come through a gauntlet to get to me. I’m lucky that I own the property but I’d like to leave the town in a better place. I’ll be staying for the next four to five years and for that time I’d like to be able to concentrate on the business and not having to be fighting Clare County Council and the DAC (Ennis 2040 DAC)”.
Talk has been a barrier to getting people into the county town, an Ennis retailer maintained. “If you’re not from Ennis or in the town every day you’d think the town is closed because of what you’re hearing, once you’re in here it is not too bad but the talk about Ennis is putting people off coming in to town”.
