Relief as popular Kilkenny fashion store escapes axe as chain closes half its Irish outlets
Fashion retailer Pamela Scott today announced it is to close half of its Irish stores, but its Kilkenny outlet will remain open.
The company this morning confirmed it is bringing the shutters down on no fewer than 12 stores in Ireland. In a statement, Pamela Scott blamed the closures on the effects of Covid-19 and changes in shopping habits.
Some of Pamela Scott’s best known flagship stores are being shut down. These include the chain’s outlets at Dublin’s Grafton Street, Frascati Centre, Swords and Blanchardstown, its Cork city centre store, Limerick’s Crescent Shopping Centre and shops in Tralee, Carlow, Sligo, Dundalk, Gorey and Nenagh.
The store in Kilkenny is one of 12 that will remain open. The others to survive the axe are in Clonmel, Mullingar, Castlebar, Waterford, Newbridge, Wexford, Ennis, Letterkenny, Middleton, Athlone, and Navan
Up to 104 staff could be made redundant as a result of the closures. Pamela Scott managing director Richard Barron said: “It is devastating to have to close shops and in particular to have to say goodbye to so many of our employees.
“Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures and we feel this is the very best way of protecting not just one of Ireland’s oldest and largest fashion chains, but the livelihoods of our remaining 90 employees.
“When it comes to high-street retailing in general, and fashion in particular, you have to adapt or face extinction,” Mr Barron added.
