Nails, vapes, vacancy: The changing face of Athlone’s high street

By Rebekah O'Reilly

A noticeable change has emerged along one of Athlone town’s main retail stretches, with a growing number of businesses in the nail, beauty, and vape sectors taking up premises between Mardyke Street, Sean Costello Street and Church Street.

Since the beginning of this year, three new nail and beauty businesses have occupied units along this stretch.

Li-Spa at 23 Church Street, Kristine Nail and Beauty Salon at 9 Mardyke Street, and Foxy Nails & Spa at 11 Mardyke Street have all taken up premises in recent months.

These businesses join existing operators including MK Nails in The Bawn and Camellia Nails on Mardyke Street, meaning there are now five nail salons located along this section of Athlone town centre.

The area has also seen a number of businesses focused on vape and electronic cigarette-related products. Candy Cloud, A+, Enjoy E Smoking Electronic Cigarette Shop, and Phone Store & More, are among the businesses operating in this sector in the town.

This changing mix comes as town centres across Ireland continue to adapt to shifts in consumer habits, with traditional retail facing increasing challenges while service-based businesses have found opportunities in high street locations.

Earlier this year, this paper featured a series on traditional traders in Athlone, highlighting the challenges facing businesses in the ever-changing retail landscape.

Those pieces examined the pressures facing businesses that have long formed part of the fabric of town centres, as new shopping habits, online competition, and rising operating costs continue to influence the retail environment.

The latest changes along Athlone’s streets provide another perspective on that wider shift, with newer service-based businesses occupying units while some traditional retail spaces remain vacant.

As of Wednesday, July 22, some 13 vacant premises existed along the town centre stretch that takes in Mardyke Street, Sean Costello Street, Dublin Gate Street and Church Street.

Some of these properties may be awaiting new tenants or planned developments, but their current disuse highlights a challenge facing many town centres: attracting and retaining a diverse range of businesses while maintaining footfall and activity.

Some new businesses have opened in this main stretch of Athlone town centre in recent months, with O'Brien's pub and Namo burritos on Mardyke Street, and Spud and Sizzle at The Bawn, among the new arrivals.

The changing retail mix raises questions about what the town centre of the future will look like and what types of businesses can thrive in the current environment.

Athlone councillor Aengus O’Rourke said the trend reflected wider changes taking place in towns and cities across Ireland and internationally, driven by changing consumer habits and the continued growth of online shopping.

He said the retail landscape has become fundamentally different over the past decade, with the Covid pandemic accelerating a shift towards online purchasing that many businesses have been forced to adapt to.

“Many traditional shopfronts have effectively been replaced by online catalogues,” he said, noting that businesses which embraced online sales alongside their physical stores had generally been better-placed to survive than those which relied solely on in-person transactions.

While acknowledging that many people would like to see town centres return to the way they looked decades ago, Cllr O’Rourke said change was inevitable.

“Our challenge is not to resist it, but to shape it positively,” he said.

He believes town centres of the future will place greater emphasis on cafés, restaurants, specialist retailers, artisan businesses, health and wellbeing services, beauty and grooming, professional services, culture and hospitality, while successful retailers will increasingly be those able to combine a strong online presence with a welcoming physical store.

Speaking about the increase in nail salons and vape shops, Cllr O’Rourke said they were legal businesses responding to market demand, and that local authorities could not dictate which types of businesses occupied commercial premises where the appropriate planning permissions were in place.

“The bigger challenge for me is not whether we have five nail salons or five coffee shops,” he said. “It’s how we continue to create a vibrant town centre that attracts people to live, work, visit and spend time there.”

He said investment in public spaces, and support for local enterprise would encourage more people to live in town centres, thus helping to tackle vacancy and dereliction.

Pointing to Athlone’s recent regeneration projects, Cllr O’Rourke said streetscape investments since 2018 had made the town centre cleaner, safer, and more attractive.

He cited Mardyke Street as an example, saying five properties that had remained vacant or derelict for more than 15 years were refurbished and brought back into use within a year of the street’s redevelopment.

Despite that progress, he described vacant and derelict buildings as one of the biggest obstacles facing town centres, arguing that they discourage investment, reduce footfall and have a negative impact on neighbouring businesses.

While welcoming initiatives such as Westmeath County Council’s Shopfront Enhancement Scheme and Rates Rebate Scheme, together with Government grants for vacant property refurbishment, he said stronger enforcement options should be available when buildings are not in use for an extended period.

“There must come a point where doing nothing can no longer be an option for property owners," Cllr O'Rourke said.

"Owners should refurbish, lease or sell vacant buildings. Where properties are allowed to deteriorate indefinitely without any genuine effort to bring them back into use, stronger enforcement measures should be available.

"In my view, this should include meaningful financial penalties for long-term vacancy and, where appropriate, compulsory purchase by the local authority in the wider public interest.”

Cllr O’Rourke said he remained optimistic about Athlone’s future, but he believed both Government and local authorities would need to take a firmer approach to tackling dereliction and prolonged vacancy if town centres were to continue evolving successfully.