Small stores will lose
LOCAL shop owner Joe Mannion has told the Irish Daily Mail just how damaging the new rules will be for small, communitybased family stores.
While the big, multinational supermarket giants can easily provide the space needed, Mr Mannion fears his business will become unviable and sales will drop by a quarter, as a result of the Public Health Alcohol Bill.
The owner of Mannion’s Day-Today News in Clondalkin, west Dublin, fears the rules will simply drive his customers towards larger supermarkets.
He told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘I would imagine that it would have a significant hit. It would see a significant drop in sales, 20% or 25% or more.’
Asked if he was worried his customers would be driven elsewhere, he warned: ‘There’s no doubt. Small shops are shutting anyway. In Clondalkin village, when we started 30 years ago, there were probably ten or 15 shops like newsagents. There’s only three of us in the main village now. There’s no doubt, it will be more difficult for us to get the sales we need to remain viable.
‘And when I say viable I mean for the shop to run, to pay my staff, keep the whole thing going and have some sort of return for myself.’
He had understood the Bill was envisaged to tackle lowcost booze sales in supermarkets, but that little thought was given to the impact it would have on smaller shops. Small shop owners fear that customers who go to supermarkets for a bottle of wine, will buy everything else there as well.