Marie Sue to move away from town centre
Maria Byrne and Beckey Alsybury at Marie Sue Lingerie, which is moving to the Fairgreen Shopping Centre.
Tuesday September 07 2010
CARLOW'S only specialist lingerie boutique, Marie Sue, is to move out of its town centre location on Burrin Street to a retail unit in the Fairgreen Shopping Centre.
Maria Byrne, who owns the boutique with Susan Alysbury, said that there were '101 reasons' for the move but cited an anticipated fall in sales as the biggest factor.
'We don't like leaving the town but the way things are going, it's getting difficult to run a business,' Maria explained. 'The work on the Flood Relief Scheme is going to affect the town and we can't afford for our sales to go down.'
News of Marie Sue's re-location comes just hours after a business group representing Carlow Town pleaded with the local council to introduce measures to resuscitate business around Tullow Street, Dublin Street, Burrin Street, Kennedy Avenue and other areas.
PJ Haskins, who owns the Centra shop on Potato Market, addressed Carlow Town Councillors on Thursday night. He said that poor access to the town centre, high parking tariffs and exorbitant rates were killing business.
Maria's reasons for moving echo the trades people's concerns. She says that the rates they'll pay in Fairgreen are lower than in Burrin Street and that free parking is a major bonus for her customers.
'Customers are delighted because the free parking is a big bonus,' she continued. 'If the town council could do something about the parking rates here it'd go a long way.
Marie Sue is the second business in the Tullow Street area to close its doors in recent weeks after Bosco's Butchers made the same move to Fairgreen.
- ELIZABETH LEE
