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WE FEEL A bit sorry for whoever is running the Twitter account for Michael Guineys today.
The store has spent a large part of today so far responding to numerous tweets and comments to explain that it is definitely not closing down.
The confusion has arisen in some reports this morning because there are three separate shops on Dublin’s Talbot Street all with the name Guiney in the name (plus another one on North Earl St, just metres away).
The shop that has been closed down is Guineys & Co at 79-80 Talbot Street, which was the sister shop to Clerys on nearby O’Connell Street. The store was set up by Kerry businessman Denis Guiney, who bought Clerys in 1941.
After years of financial difficulties, Clerys was bought by a US private equity firm last night, just hours after it went into receivership. However there was less good news for Guineys & Co, which was not sold and was instead put into liquidation with the loss of 10 jobs.
The shutters are already down on Guineys & Co this morning and there is a notice on the door telling customers that the shop has closed down.
The completely separate company Michael Guineys (still with us?), which has branches around the country, was set up by the same family, and has two branches on Talbot Street, is definitely not closing.
So just to be clear: This Guineys store on Talbot Street, which became something of a Dublin institution, has closed:
Guineys & Co this morning. (Photos: Paul Hyland/TheJournal.ie)
However the Michael Guiney shops on Talbot Street all remain open. So there’s this one at number 83:
And this one at number 93:
(Images: Google Maps)
And let’s not forget this one on the adjacent North Earl Street, right beside O’Connell Street:
(Image: Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)
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Thanks for the pictorial differentiation between the one closing and the others not effected.
Sad for the ones losing jobs by the latest effect of our economy. Part of the legacy of Bertie, FF and the Greens rolls on…
Clerys is now owned by an American, Brown Thomas by a Canadian, Arnotts by NAMA. Very little owned locally.
Is NAMA not locally owned ie by us
Yhea Joe, NAMA owned by us, sure why don’t you just rock up to NAMA and grab a nice painting from the lobby, sure it’s owned by us so what trouble could you get into.
jay funk in realtion to the story and the comment you make no sense but seeing as how you uttered nonsense I’ll try and explain in the same way as a hospital belongs to us so does NAMA take a picture from either and it still theft you only own a portion of the picture not all of it and have no right to take the portions belonging to the rest of us
Good to know.
What about the Cork store? Sorry , I forgot , there is no life outside Dublin.
Cork store is a separate company as stated in the article…..
What is it with Cork people and that massive chip they all seem to carry on their shoulder?
I’m surprised it lasted this long!
Thanks be to jasus, the do some great deals in the orange ones, 3 T-shirts for a fiver and the are better quality than anything you will buy on O’Connell St (top tip)
What about the guineys in cork ?
“The shop that has been closed down is Guineys & Co at 79-80 Talbot Street, which was the sister shop to Clerys on nearby OâConnell Street. ”
Actually, it’s not, it only mentions stores in Dublin. You may not be familiar with Cork, large city, ok city, on the South coast with great food. The store in Cork could be linked to any of them.
The only store that has closed down is Guineys & Co at 79-80 on Talbot Street in Dublin. All the other Guineys around the country are Michael Guineys – they’re a completely separate company and they’re not closing down.
“The completely separate company Michael Guineys (still with us?), which has branches around the country, was set up by the same family, and has two branches on Talbot Street, is definitely not closing.”
Those who are mourning, did you shop there? That’s what I thought. You killed it.
In fairness, its offering was on par with €2 shops, only costlier. It was its time to go.
My father worked at that shop for forty years day-in, day-out so that he could support us and he never complained about his lot in life. Now he has no job and I can assure you that at his age and with his level of education he has very little potential to find new employment, his new situation is far from a ‘temporary state’. He gave his life to that shop and in recent years accepted continuously deteriorating working conditions to keep it afloat. Today the bank come in and shutter the shop without any warning because the property is of little value to the American investors, my dad ‘risked’ committing himself to that place for two thirds of his life and this is how he is rewarded.
Has your dad heard anything about redundancy payments yet, Dietrich?
I’m afraid he’s away at the moment and I’m trying to find a gentle way to tell him , I’m also trying to get in touch with his co-workers/ Union rep. Obviously it’s very sensitive but if I find out anything that I’m permitted to tell you I will.
And apologies for my rant, it’s kind of a sensitive subject
You’re fine, that wasn’t a rant! Sorry about your dad’s job. We’re planning to do a follow-up piece on redundancy payments to workers so I was just interested to know if they’ve heard anything yet. There hasn’t been anything said about it yet.
@christine you may also want to do a follow up on its creditors/suppliers particularly the smaller ones. Was walking by the shop today and their was a guy very upset and by want I could overhear from his phone call, he is owed a load of cash from stock he supplied and was talking about having letting his staff go if he doesn’t get paid, which he thinks is unlikely,
Cheers Jay, good point.
I was just in there on Saturday buying a belt for work. Great quality and only €8 that’d cost 20 quid in Debehams. I should have bought two!!
Who owns all the Sale and Half-Price Sale shops in Dublin? – man, they seem to be everywhere.
It’s the one on Talbot street near the junction of Gardiner Street to be closed down! The one on North Earl is not closing down! And it’ll never ever closed down! Guineys on Talbot street had the name ” the shop that make Talbot street famous” on their paper bag! “
Haha, hilarious, people lost their jobs, love when that happens….
People lose jobs, people find jobs… it’s a temporary state, it’s not like they really had something and lost it, they just worked there.
The owner though, they were ones who owned something to lose and did lose it.
Oh yeh, the owners, always have sympathy for them. Sure they’re on minimum wage and will be struggling, struggling like crazy :)
Only shows your ignorance Martin. Business owners stand to earn more from a business than their workers because they risk way more.
They often land in deep debt when a business like that collapses. Workers? They go on welfare for a while, then find new jobs. I keep seeing retail jobs advertised all the time, crisis or not.
A lot of the customers in the pub shop there and they tell me it was a good shop.This goverment is to blame for this so they should all resign.
Next time you’re in the O’Connell Street area I’d recommend taking a walk up Talbot Street to see how many discount shops have sprung up there in the last few years. The place is awash with Guineys shops, €2 shops, “Closing Down” shops, sale shops, etc. I’d say the massive competition had more to do with this than government policy did.
You can’t really blame the government for a discount shop closing down during a recession. These are the times in which discount shops usually thrive.
I went in every Saturday with my nan, but I also in recent years got my pillows there I loved the staff all old school, polite remembered customers a tradition sadly dying these days.
have your say