Rates and bypass blamed for Slaney Interiors closure
DESPITE having seemingly weathered what were extremely difficult years for other businesses, a huge ‘closing down sale’ sign was erected outside of Slaneyside Interiors at Scarawalsh recently. Owner Pat Murphy announced that the store off the N11, along with the store in Drinagh in Wexford town, will both close their doors in the coming weeks.
The closures are part of a move to consolidate and downsize as the Murphy family seek to move all their operations to one central point - the building which currently houses Slaneyside Carpets on Templeshannon Quay. In terms of the building at Scarawalsh, which has been open for over 20 years, Pat says that the reasons for closing up were twofold.
‘ There are a lot of contributing factors,’ he said. ‘But first of all, with the new road, we’re being bypassed out here. Secondly, it’s to do with the rates. When everywhere is going to be re-rated, I know for sure that my rates will sky-rocket. The premises are just too big for what we’re doing here at the moment. We have a whole floor that we’re not even using and we’ll still have to pay rates for that.’
Having attended the recent crisis meeting on rates, Mr Murphy made the decision to close up before he was hit with an increase. In terms of the Wexford store, he says it will close its doors by the end of August and they will seek to lease the building out. Meanwhile, Scarawalsh will be used temporarily as a warehouse while renova- tions are ongoing on Templeshannon Quay and Mr Murphy says they have allowed a couple of months to shift remaining stock as part of the closing down sale.
Although, in years gone by, Slaneyside Interiors would have employed upwards of eight people, the current closures are resulting in two job losses. Despite this, Mr Murphy is confident that he has secured both employees work within the trade.
‘ That was the hardest part,’ he said. ‘Declan Foley and Tony Noctor have been with us for a very long time and have been very loyal employees through it all. If it hadn’t been for them, we probably would have done this long ago.’
Renovation works are now ongoing at the store on Templeshannon Quay and Pat is hopeful that he, along with his wife Karen and son Patrick, will be able to continue to serve the people of Co Wexford for some time.
‘We’re hoping to do just as much from the shop on the quay,’ he said. ‘We’re doing a lot of renovations on the upper floors and will be doing a lot more work in the coming weeks. We’ll be selling furniture and carpets from the quay and we’ll continue to offer people the same great value we always have. On behalf of myself and Karen, we are extremely grateful to the people who have been such loyal customers to us over the years. It’s the local people that have come and done business and supported us that really kept us going through the tough times. Local people have been the mainstay for our business and we’re very grateful to them.’