Season’s greed of the store giants

CORK city is still unique in that small, family-owned businesses are able to survive alongside the multiple stores. But for how much longer?

These small retail stores often provide a more professional service than the larger shops, but the main disadvantage is that they do not have the flexibility of being able to rotate their staff with part-timers because their service is more specialised.

The increasing pressure that the foreign multiples are putting on our independent retailers reached a new low this year with the decision by many of them to open on St Stephens’s day.