Local business coping with the recession

Chadwick’s hardware store and lumber yard on Thomas Street is one of the many businesses that have been affected as a result of the recession.

The store is something of a historical landmark in the Liberties. It has been there since the mid 19th century and its doors are still open today for its many loyal customers.

Like most companies and businesses in the construction industry, the store has been heavily affected by the recession. According to their store manager they have lost a third of their business since the recession began, mainly due to the loss of big contractors.. “The loss of the big contractors has affected us a lot. A lot of them have just gone out of business as most people are aware,” he said.

To combat the recession and the loss of business, the store has undergone a makeover to try and get more retail business and to make it a more appealing place for the customers to shop.“We have revamped the store completely in the last year in order to focus on the retail business because the construction industry is at its lowest point in recent memory,” said the manager.

The store has also had their staff undergo further training in customer relations in order to help them to attract business. “All of the staff have undergone training in customer relations in order to teach them how to attract business, that is something that we have never had to do before because before the recession you didn’t have to worry about that, the only thing you had to worry about was being able to cope with the business coming in but those days are long gone.” He said.

The manager of the store believes that due to the location of the store, they have been able to deal with the recession and loss of business a lot better than others. “There’s not too many hardware stores left in the city as most of them have closed down, you do have a few smaller ones like Lenihan’s and Deckwells’, but that would be it,  so our location has been a definite help to us.” The manager said.

The store also has their loyal customers to thank for helping them stay competitive during this tough economic period. “Our old customers have been very loyal during the recession. A lot of them would be people who used to work for the bigger companies but no longer do and they are out of work, but they are still willing to come in here and spend their money. They would now be working on smaller projects, so we have a lot to thank our customers for because we know that it’s not easy at the moment.”

Although he does expect the recession to last for a while longer the store manager does see some signs of improvement. “I expect this to last for a few more years but there are some signs that it’s going to pick up particularly in Dublin. We had a decent year last year.”

Unfortunately the recession does look like it will be here for a while longer, but thankfully there does seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel for those in the construction industry.