Carphone Warehouse decision deepens the crisis in Irish retail 

Changing way customers buy devices blamed for store closures

A woman looks through the door of a Carphone Warehouse store in Naas, Co Kildare, after the mobile communications company announced it is shutting all 81 of its Irish stores and outlets with the loss of almost 500 jobs. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

The crisis facing Ireland's retail sector has deepened following the announcement by Carphone Warehouse that it has closed all of its 81 retail stores in Ireland.

The company blamed the changing way customers buy mobile devices and reduction in footfall to their stores of more than 40%. As a result of the decision, there will be 486 redundancies.