Indoor market was ‘no longer financially viable’
STALL-HOLDERS in the Wexford Indoor Market in Wexford Retail Park have decided to shut down the initiative after jointly deciding that it’s no longer financially viable.
Around 20 stall-holders gathered together on Saturday, May 26, and mutually agreed to shut up shop on the market with immediate affect.
Speaking to this newspaper about the decision one of the stallholders, who wished to remain anonymous, said it was no longer financially feasible to remain in operation.
‘It was a joint decision on behalf of the stall-holders following a meeting that Saturday morning,’ she said.
‘We are entering what would be traditionally a busy period of the year for us but sales are just not anything like what they should be, even compared to this time last year,’ she added.
‘We are just not getting adequate footfall.’
The stall-holder agreed that with the upturn in the economy people are changing their approach to shopping and are slowly beginning to move away from places like the market and back towards shops.
‘Yes, I would definitely think people are moving back towards giving more of their business to shops,’ she said.
However, she added that it might also be a case of the economic tiger not yet fully making its roar felt throughout the county: ‘It might be because there is still a shortage of money for people and they are becoming more careful where they spend it.’
With regard to her own stall she said her customers were predominantly ‘impulse buyers’ but their numbers have been decreasing steadily in recent times.
She said the decision to close down was not one taken lightly by those involved.
‘We have just made our decision but this is something we have thought about for the last couple of months,’ she said.
She complimented the people who oversaw the running of the facility but said the issue was effectively taken out of the hands of all concerned.
‘December was really quiet whereas it would normally be good and the reverse was true of January which this year was really great,’ she said.
The market was very popular across the county and the stall-holder said it attracted people from throughout Wexford.
‘We had a wide range of customers and they came from as far as Ferns, Enniscorthy and New Ross as well as local people here in Wexford,’ she said.
‘It’s unfortunate that it has to close but there really is no alternative.’