“At the moment there is only around half occupancy in the market, a lot of traders have closed down or moved on,” explains Justin Leonard, managing director at Jackie Leonard & Sons.
“The traders who remain at the moment are going to be allocated one wing of the market, and the other wing will be allocated as a retail area. They hope to bring in other artisan producers, not just fruit and vegetables. They want to have bakeries, delis, fish, meat, all kinds of products, and have stands where you can have different foods.”
Justin believes this will attract more members of the public to the market.
“This will keep the wholesale element to one half of the market and create a new retail element in the other half.
“The plan has now been fully ratified approved and funded. So now it’s up to the corporation to get the plan started. They did start on the project two years ago by painting the inside of the market which caused a bit of disruption for the current tenants, who were moved around a bit. The painting of the market is now finished.”
Dublin market has been in the same spot since it was established way back in 1892. Justin’s great grandmother was one of the first tenants in the market, and the family company, in its fourth generation now, still trades from the same stand today.
Jack Leonard Senior, Justin's grandfather taken on the stand at Christmas 1915.
“The whole process is about a year behind at the moment. They were hoping to have it all done and dusted and running for business in September, but it looks like it will be spring/ summer 2016.”
According to Justin, the traders in the market are all for the idea.
“It will bring footfall and trade back into the area, which is something the market has lost over the last ten years. The market is primarily now a food service market so the bulk of the product in Dublin would get delivered, for instance we have our own distribution vehicles and deliver ourselves. When I first started in the late 80’s, the customers came in and collected the bulk of the product themselves.”
The goal is a wholesale and retail market combined under one roof.
“Personally, I believe it’s a good idea to try and get more consumers in. People bring people and people bring money,” explains Justin. “But some traders aren’t as happy with this. They had hoped to combine the wholesale and retail market under the same hours. For a lot of the traders their business is done by 12 noon, and they’re talking about opening the market until 4pm. The traders don’t want to be standing around until 5, that’s not what they do. Their concerns are that the market has public access to all areas. This means they can’t keep their products safe until the market closes. To make this work they would have to be able to secure their possessions in the afternoon.”
According to the Irish Times existing wholesale traders said their businesses would not survive plans to redevelop the building for retail. Their objections largely related to loading and parking facilities for wholesale trade and the lack of consultation over the new development.
But Sinn Féin councillor Janice Boylan told the council last week that following a meeting with the traders, two amendments had been agreed to the plan. The amendments allow a review to ensure existing loading and unloading facilities in St Michan’s Street would be retained and possibly extended, and that design options would be explored to ensure the segregation of the market did not compromise food safety.
The current wholesale businesses will not be switching to retail. New retail companies will be brought in to take care of this side of the market. Part of the corporation’s plan was to build a wall down the centre of the market to separate wholesale from retail, but this idea wasn’t popular among wholesalers.
“It would completely limit our ability to sell wholesale to the passing trade. But in general this idea is positive. The more people we can get the better.”
For more information:
Justin LeonardJackie Leonard & Sons Ltd.
Tel +353.1.873.3055
Mob +353.86.867.4760
Email: justin@jackieleonards.ie
www.justinleonard.net