BY FRANK FARRAGHER

THE jobs of hundreds of workers at furniture retailers in the city area could be put at risk by operators of ‘liquidation sales’, it was warned this week.

So called liquidation sales are usually held over a two to three day period with the operators renting a vacant factory or warehouse space for the duration of the sale.

But this week the Galway Furnishing Retailers Association (GFRA) warned that this type of “completely unfair” competition now represented a serious threat to established businesses operating from fixed premises.

The GFRA now want the Galway City Council and the Revenue Commissioners to put the liquidation sales operations ‘under the microscope’ and are particularly targeting the issue of rates in their campaign.

GFRA spokesman, Tom Dempsey, of Tom Dempsey Interiors, said that everyone had to be operating on a level playing field in the retail business.

“For example, my business pays €54,000 in rates to the City Council every year. We are asking the legitimate question of what rates liabilities are there on the premises which host these sales,” said Mr Dempsey.

He also warned customers that once they walked out the door of the liquidation sale with goods, they had absolutely no comeback in relation to problems which could later arise.

“We, as fixed and well established businesses, have to comply with very strict standards and are subjected to regular inspection and we have no problem with that – it is the way it should be.

Mr Dempsey said that he had 21 people on his payroll and such employment levels were replicated across a dozen other similar businesses in the catchment area.

“We are talking here about the jobs of well over 200 people, who like ourselves pay their taxes every week or month. This type of competition is just completely unfair – these operators just breeze into town for a few days, sell as much as they can, and leave nothing to the local economy with no comeback for customers,” said Mr Dempsey.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune