Local closures 'show need to increase supports for our small businesses’
The need for greater supports for the small business sector has been brought into sharp focus this week with the news that a Tullamore business which has been operating in the town for almost 30 years is to close its doors this weekend.
Better Buys, which has been trading on Patrick Street since 1996, will close for the final time tomorrow (Saturday) after which owner Mary Hennessy says the name will “cease to exist” after their Mullingar branch closed down in January of last year.
Mary, who opened Better Buys with her husband, Seamus, in 1996, admitted the last two years had been “very difficult” and said the recent increase in the minimum wage was “the final straw” for the business.
She cited a number of other factors which influenced the decision to close their doors, including escalating rates, additional holiday entitlements for staff and also the lack of parking facilities in the town centre.
“We had a great 28 years in Tullamore and have made lifelong friends, but trading conditions over the last couple of years have been very difficult,” she told the Offaly Independent this week.
“There are only so many costs any small business can absorb,” she said, “and sadly we could not see any way in which our business model would be viable going forward in the face of so many challenges.”
Another business on Patrick Street which is facing closure - albeit only on a temporary basis - is Carina's Baby and Children's Boutique, which will move its business online while major structural works are carried out on the building from which it currently trades.
In a Facebook post, Carina's said the “bad news” of its temporary closure had come sooner than anticipated, and the shop will close its doors on Thursday next, February 20, and move online “for the moment.”
Fianna Fail TD for Offaly and former restaurateur and business owner in Tullamore, Tony McCormack, said local business closures showed “how critical” it is for the Government to pursue supports for the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector right across the country.
“I am very sad to hear of the closures of local businesses in Tullamore. I have been an avid supporter of the SMEs, having been heavily involved in that sector myself for over 30 years,” said Deputy McCormack, who welcomed the changes to VAT and PRSI that are contained in the Programme for Government.
He added that the establishment of a new Small Business Unit to back small businesses “will ensure that SMEs have a focus in Government” and measures such as the Cost of Business Advisory Forum to assess the cost structures for SME and family-owned businesses would also help a lot of business owners.
While he pledged to ensure that the measures to assist SMEs outlined in the Programme for Government are implemented, Deputy McCormack said these measures are “not enough on their own” and that “we must go further to ensure SMEs have the support they desperately need.”