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Tommy’s town centre store closes

Local residents have expressed shock at the decision of Tommy’s Wonderland to close its large Blanchardstown Centre store without giving any notice to staff or customers.

According to the owner of the store Fergal Crinnion soaring rates and service charges had forced him to put his Dublin 15 business into liquidation.

Seventeen full-time and part-time staff were told of the decision minutes before the doors were closed at the store for the last time. However Mr. Crinnion insisted that there was nothing underhand about the manner in which he told staff of the decision. "With bad news, when you need to know it, you just need to hear it quickly," he said.

Workers, some of whom have worked at the shop for up to 15 years, will receive statutory redundancy and holiday pay.

Mr. Crinnion said his decision to liquidate the business was due to the high rates and service charges at the shopping centre. He said he had just received a bill of €102,000 for rates which he is currently appealing. He said he was already paying service charges of €100,000 and annual rent of €760,000 and simply could not continue.

Mr. Crinnion also owns the Stanley chain of newsagents in the centre.

Speaking after the news was broken, local TD Joan Burton was critical of “inflexible landlords and inappropriate hikes in some local authority rates which are making it impossible for a lot of retail outlets to keep trading. Commercial landlords around the country are going to have to wake up and smell the coffee; they don't seem to be living in the real world.,” she said.

Tommy’s Wonderland was also the official supplier of many local school uniforms in the area and schools will now have to make new arrangements for their pupils.

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