45 jobs saved at B&Q store
After company entered examinership, due in part to upward-only rent reviews, new rental agreement reached for Athlone store saving 45 jobs
Print8 April 2013
45 jobs have been secured after B&Q struck a cheaper rent deal with one of its landlords to keep one of its stores open. The Athlone store was one of several units threatened with closure after the DIY and garden centre company went into examinership earlier this year. Management had blamed the wider economic downturn and the issue of upward-only rent reviews which has dogged a large section of the retail sector. B&Q Ireland said the Athlone store will return to normal opening and stay open so long as the wider examinership process is successful.
Negotiations on revised rent arrangements for some of the other seven stores are ongoing. The Waterford store will close on 4 May as planned. B&Q Ireland had nine large outlets including Cork, Galway, Limerick, Naas, and at three Dublin locations in Liffey Valley, Swords and Tallaght.
Other big name retailers to have hit out at the upward-only rent review system in Ireland include Monsoon, which asked all its landlords for a reduction; HMV, which was already struggling due to the popularity of downloads; and Bewleys Cafe, which last week won a case against its landlord for a rent reduction in line with the market rates.
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