Eamon Quinn: Retailers facing the prospect of pulling down the shutters 

Business Editor Eamon Quinn looks at the future faced by struggling city centre stores 

The arrival of the Covid19 pandemic has hastened the closure of a number of big-name multiples, who were already struggling with the advance of online sales. Picture:  Brian Lawless

There was a time when Irish teenagers made it their business to be the experts in the business of retailing. 

Sixteen-year-olds coveting the highest-paying Saturday jobs competed for intelligence over which of the big shops were taking on Christmas staff. Back then it was the most successful and profitable chains that paid and treated even temporary and part-time workers the best.