This article is from page 8 of the 2008-04-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
THE INCOMING president of the Midwest Marketing Association has rubbished reports that says there are more shoppers in Ennis than ever.
Nationwide research carried out by Retail Excellence Ireland and CB R1- chard Ellis put Ennis in the top two in terms of percentage increase foot- fall in the main shopping areas.
The survey said that hourly footfall in O’Connell Street in March of last year was up 39 per cent. The only
other centre surveyed which enjoyed an increase was Patrick Street in Cork, which was up 50 per cent, ac- cording to the research.
The Ennis figures were up on the 1,917 shoppers recorded in March 2006 to 2,658. Ennis and Cork were the only two centres to show an in- crease. Others were down by up to 48 per cent.
But Ennis retailers say that if that was true then, it’s no longer the case.
Olwyn King, sales manager with The Gift Venue in Abbey Street and
soon to be chair of the Midwest Mar- keting Association, said that “this 1s definitely not the case. It’s absolutely dead around town. You’d do more business on Monday now than on a Saturday.”
Having been in retail in the town for 10 years, Olwyn says she “can’t see how there could be increased footfall. I think people just aren’t coming into town. It’s frightening to see how quiet town is. You only have to look at all the vacant premises.”
The situation with parking and the
opening of the bypass are contribu- tory factors, the sales manager be- WAVene
“There isn’t enough parking and there is virtually no parking for coaches – just a couple of bays at the Temple Gate which is a long walk. “The tourists aren’t coming in, par- ticularly the US tourists. It’s a combi- nation of a lot of things but everyone is feeling the pinch.”
CEO of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce, Rita McInerney is not so convinced that the figures are
wrong. “Business is steady in Ennis. It’s possibly an exaggerated rise but they are a reputable company and it is encouraging that it is an indication of an upward trend,” she said.
She added that “as a county, we have done extremely well in recent times and you couldn’t continue at Webel eaten “We have to look at our competi- tiveness in terms of rates and energy costs and there needs to be some assistance for the retail sector from Government in those terms.”