Tipperary shoppers urged to ‘vote with their feet’ over prominent vacant building
People in Clonmel should “vote with their feet” when it comes to showing their dissatisfaction with one particular derelict building in the town, according to a local representative.
The comments were made during a discussion on vacancy and dereliction at a recent meeting of the Clonmel Borough District.
Fine Gael councillor Tom Acheson said that the vacant Dunnes Stores building on O’Connell Street in Clonmel needs to be brought back into use, and that the retail company should be compelled to either use it, or lose it.
"Dunnes Stores have two extremely profitable, fantastic shops in town, doing a huge business in this area, you can have sympathy with the smaller shops where families go out of business, where there’s either no success or maybe it’s just financially not viable, but Dunnes Stores do not have that excuse,” he said.
The Dunnes Stores outlet on O’Connell Street closed in 2017, but the chain has two other stores in the town, on Davis Road and in the Oakville Shopping Centre.
According to Cllr Acheson, the company are “choosing to sit on” the property, saying that owning property is like “buying gold” for large retailers.
"It’s almost like buying gold to them, it’s just sitting there, letting it in place but it’s a blight on our main street. Dunnes Stores, Heatons and the former Ulster Bank are the three big properties that are dragging down O’Connell Street,” he said.
"I think we as a district council can put pressure on Dunnes Stores, and people who go on social media giving out about the centre of town, needs to think about where they shop, and shop with their feet,” Cllr Acheson said.
"If they’re not happy with Dunnes Stores being idle, there’s loads of other opportunities for them to shop in Clonmel, and maybe that might wake up Dunnes Stores. People should stop giving out on social media and take a bit of action,” he added.
Responding to Cllr Acheson, Fianna Fáil councillor Siobhán Ambrose questioned whether the former supermarket building had been sold.
“I thought I heard before Christmas that it was about to be sold, so have we any clarity on whether that’s going through the sale process? Can we get some clarity on whether that’s true, if it has been sold?” she asked.
Cllr Ambrose said that the issue with such big buildings is finding companies who are large enough to fill them.
"The difficulty with these is that they’re exceptionally large units, and you’re looking at very big businesses to go into all these units, but again, I must stress the need for people to shop local.
"We do have a huge offering of existing shops and while we often mention the ones that are large and are vacant, it’s important to remember as well that we have lots of existing shops, some very old, and they need to be supported as well,” Cllr Ambrose added.
Dunnes Stores was contacted for comment