Fiery chariots split the heavens, many-headed monsters seen in Dublin Bay, oh, yeah, and Lidl may arrive on Grafton Street… to the stunned disbelief of the Irish Times… July 16, 2008
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Culture, Economy, Society.trackback
Following on from Joemomma’s piece I was reminded that NollaigO asked why we’re not dealing more with the global economic crisis, and it’s a damn good question. In some ways it’s easier to reflect on the fluff rather than the base - and then again Notes on the Front covers that area far better than here. The danger of course being that a blog like this one here then merely becomes a meta-critic of the Irish Times or whatever. On the other hand, with the Irish Times and whatever presenting such excellent targets why not? Still over the next while economic issues will weigh a bit larger in the scheme of things. And to start this process, why not consider a combination of the Irish Times and the economy?
Today I read in my on-line and now, thank God, free copy that:
PROOF THAT the recession really has arrived may be evident from the fact that a fashionable Habitat store near the bottom of Dublin’s Grafton Street could be replaced by a Lidl discount supermarket.
Truly the barbarians are not merely at, but well inside, the gates and heading through on a discount shopping spree. And note:
The German discounter is one of only two businesses – the other is an overseas bank – pitching for the lease of the massive store in Dublin’s most fashionable shopping area.
Think about that. “Dublin’s most fashionable shopping area”. What on earth does that mean? Fashionable to who and why? And how does this impact on reality in any meaningful way? And then let’s think about Habitat. Would it be unreasonable of me to suggest that in amongst the porridgy coloured interior decor and the subdued - to the level of sedation - lighting lurked nothing so much as no bargains at all to be had. And should you really really really want wine glasses tinted primary colours to impress your friends, and toasters with faux streamline stylings to burn your toast (when some of us make do with the grill), or CD racks of byzantine complexity to reassemble and byzantine pricing to regret at leisure, then you’d do as well dropping by that little discount shop beside M&S off Henry Street?
Lidl and its fellow discount chain Aldi are believed to have seen a significant increase in business since the effects of the credit crunch on the economy have become apparent.
Their turnover has also been greatly helped by the National Consumer Agency’s recent survey, which found that a basket of 28 own-brand goods was more than 50 per cent cheaper in Lidl than in Tesco or Dunnes Stores. Tesco is now preparing to launch a new range of own-brand products to slow down the defections to the Germans.
Shurely shome mistake, since last time I was in Tesco a month or so ago I saw a range of own-brand products, and come to think of it, four years ago, and indeed many years before that again. But then, the IT is perhaps somewhat like George Bush Snr who during the 1992, or was it 1988, election demonstrated his worldliness by a simple and child-like delight at an electronic check-out machine thereby demonstrating that the last time he was in a supermarket was probably never.
It get’s better. The ‘C’ word makes an appearance…
The current moves by Lidl to break into the top end of Dublin’s retail market will be seen as a major change in policy by the Germans since they opened their first stores here in 1999. Up to now they have largely targeted rural towns and immigrant and working-class areas of cities.
And perhaps I’m being unkind here, but surely the imputation is that that’s ‘good enough for them‘… the ‘working-class’ areas, but no way should they be on Grafton Street.
And then to add insult to injury those devious Germans are, it is suggested:
[Lidl] …apparently trying to get the Habitat lease without having to pay the receiver key money of €2 million. This figure is well above the going rate of €400,000 to €700,000 generally sought for the leases of good-sized premises on Grafton Street.
Look at that! Attempting to elbow their way onto Dublin, nay, Ireland’s, most ‘fashionable’ shopping street. And without paying their way in full like any other - er - commercial retailer….
Garvan Walsh of estate agents Kelly Walsh, who is advising the Habitat receiver, said he was still confident of securing a substantial premium for the lease of the 2,750sq m (29,600sq ft) premises. The store has an annual rent of €1.3 million.
I think Garvan may be a bit optimistic, although one might also wonder at whether this is merely a cynical publicity puff to get sales rolling…
Still, adding further injury to insult we read:
Lidl is not the only big-name trader to have checked out the former Habitat store. Nearby trader Avoca looked and left, and despite careful preparations and lots of promotional work to attract the American clothing giant Abercrombie, its advisers did not waste much time on the exercise.
Not only was the Habitat store unsuitable but they told their surprised hosts they would not open a store anywhere near Grafton Street because of its poor image and unattractive mix of shops.
Ouch! So much for our ‘most fashionable shopping area’. But it’s the underlying assumptions that are so irritating in this piece. The idea that fashionable has any particular meaning other than to a small segment of the population. The idea that shops that cater to ‘immigrants’ and ‘working-class’ people are somehow unsuitable for ‘fashionable shopping areas’. The sense of disbelief and entitlement, that somehow those who are ‘fashionable’ are above the realities that dictate life for those of us who… well, shop in Dunnes, or Lidl, or Aldi and always have.
And overlay that with an absurd near-self-pitying tone about how yet again WE. HAVE. DISGRACED. OURSELVES. by our inability to attract an international ‘clothing giant’ to this most fashionable area…
So, in a superheated, credit fuelled, contracting economy facing its worst downturn in a generation the IT has it’s priorities absolutely brilliantly and chaotically wrong. We’re crap because our ‘fashionable” isn’t fashionable to the fashionable and we’re not fashionable enough to realise it…
I swear, you cannot make this stuff up.
I look forward to the feature in this Saturday’s IT mag on the delightful interior design products available in Lidl.
Just back from New York where I saw, in ‘fashionable’ 44th St, home to the Algonquin Hotel and the Havard Club, a hardware shop. Yes,just that - selling hammers and washers. Nowhere on Grafton St can you buy anything that’s of any use to anybody. In fact, as Kathy Sheridan pointed out recently in - yes - the IT, you can’t find anything to buy in Grafton St unless you’re female and under 30. Have a look - this is only a slight exaggeration.
One obvious improvement would be to de-pedestrianise it. You’d get rid of the street performers and the squads of 15-year-olds screeching into their mobiles. Maybe some of the big chains would pull out and leasehold owners, in desperation, would be forced to welcome actual shops that sell things people need. But would they advertise in the IT?
Just back from New York where I saw, in ‘fashionable’ 44th St, home to the Algonquin Hotel and the Havard Club, a hardware shop.
Yeah…. at the top of Shaftsbury Ave. in London’s ‘fashionable’ Covent Garden, there’s a Ships’ chandlers, and there’s a hardware store in Drury Lane. Paris is the same; proper shops on the Rue De Rivoli (and a taxidermist…..). And cheap places to eat in both. Whereas in Dublin value and utility are badges of shame.
Incidentally, don’t get me wrong about aspects of supermarket hiring/firing and employment issues, but that’s a different discussion to the point about the IT’s disbelief…
Crocodile, I look forward too to that edition. That’s very true what you say about New York. Cheek by jowl with high fashionista are very ordinary - and useful - shops. As you say too sonofstan in Paris and London.
Value and utility though are badges of shame to that small minority of people who want to pretend they don’t live in this society as it actually is.
Incidentally, if we’re into issues of comparison, Henry Street is to me a better example of a good mix of shops - although the lack of a book shop is a pity, Chapters used to have an outlet there for a brief while before they shifted onto Middle Abbey St and then onwards to their new place.
On the question of “we have disgraced ourselves” - of course “we” never actually means “we” in sentence of this nature. I remember this principle from “we are paying ourselves more than we earn” thirty years ago.
Very very true ejh. It’s the spurious claim to inclusivity from those who are being entirely exclusive…
Is that the squealing of the guilty we hear?
More than likely
Tangental perhaps, but I’m reminded of a piece by Gene Kerrigan that i read in the Sunday World all of 30 years ago maybe, when the first McDonald’s in Ireland opened in Grafton St., on the site of Jammet’s restaurant. Gene was merciless about what he referred to as the ‘Jammet’s crowd’ bemoaning the defiling of the sacred site, and how it was all about keeping the working classes in their ghetto and away from nice people …….
The fact that I can remember more about a piece i read in the 70s than about anything i read yesterday is another story….
‘Up to now they have largely targeted rural towns.’
Those clever Germans. Next they’ll target the urban countryside.It’s where the real money is.
They’re in Belfast, so clearly they’ve been targeting the real capital.
“…..clearly they’ve been targeting the real capital.”
So they’ve reached Cork as well, Garibaldy ?!
Speaking of Cork, I received the following query in an email today:
DIDN’T FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC DRINK IN “THE LONG VALLEY” ?
Mo náire, I replied:
Cé hiad? Ní raibh aithne agam orthu. An bfuil tú ag magadh?
Moving on (go tapaidh!), I found this series of interviews with left wing economists very informative [and I'm no fan of Matgamna's!]
http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2008/05/02/marxists-capitalist-crisis
I was particularly struck by this comment in the Trevor Evans interview:
“..After the 1929 crash the United States government introduced very tight controls of the financial system. From 1933 to the early 70s the financial sector was very tightly regulated. By the 1970s the banks were looking for ways to get round the controls. There was a political shift in the late 70s, after Ford became President of the US, and from 1980 onwards there was a process of liberalisation.
The most first important change was in 1980, when the legal upper limit on interest rates was abolished. There was a series of laws, under Reagan and Clinton, up to the 1999 law which completely abolished the remainder of the regulations which had been introduced in 1933.
This process of liberalisation of the financial sector created the basis on which all sorts of innovations could develop, and resulted in a huge expansion in the size of the financial sector relative to industrial and commercial capital……”
Note how frequently the banks’ spin doctors are currently warning against ” misguided ideas about bringing back regulation”.
Anyway I’m off to Cork tomorrow to have a drink with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac!
Oíche Maith.
Clearly the absence of regulation has been key. I heard on the news that Santander had been protected from the sub prime thing because of Spanish banking regulations. Enabling it to take over Alliance and Leicester at a cut price rate.
And the only thing Cork is the capital of, is of delusional west Brits who think they are rebels.
Biffonomics in action;
Cowen rings opening bell on NY stock exchange: Dow Jones has best day in over 3 months.
……..delusional west Brits who think they are rebels!
I thought the accusation by the Belfast “historians” was that we ethnically cleansed all the West Brits.
Is that true CL?
Re Cork, I’m very fond of the city. Maybe more fond of it than Dublin… :0
Well the accusation was that youse cleansed protestants. What west Brits are of course multi-denominational. Youse all love rugby. Case closed.
Cork-youse only ever had one rebel and ye shot him!!
Rugby Union. Not real rugby.
Cowen picked the right day to be at the stock market- The Dow Jones index rose by 277 on Wednesday.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121629141972861629.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news
Lidl generally know their market - pretty soon every big working-class estate in Belfast will have one within easy walking distance. But with the recession coming, there might be broader layers considering shopping in Lidl. After all, five dozen tins of corned beef for a shilling…
Not to fear - another bastion of right-thinking swoops in to protect sensitive souls from the barbarians at the gate:
http://www.independent.ie/business/commercial-property/planners-bid-to-keep-discount-store-out-of-top-shopping-area-1434408.html
There was an article in one of the British papers about how Lidl is becoming fashionable amongst sections of the bourgeoisie, as well as those secretly going.
Snap with the Irish Times Saturday magazine then, some weeks back. Who can know the heart of the wealthy?
Cheers for the link Paddy…
Five dozen tins… that sounds like a - erm - bargain… of sorts.
Now if you were to pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs….
It could be arranged, they’re very helpful…