Amazon has announced the opening of its first warehouse, or distribution center, in the Republic of Ireland, creating 500 new jobs.
He said the new 630,000 square foot center at Baldonnell Business Park in Dublin will contain millions of items to pick up, pack and ship to customers across Ireland as well as the rest of Europe.
The company said the new center, which will open next spring, will offer faster delivery to customers across Ireland, including one-day delivery of thousands of items.
Amazon also announced the opening of a second delivery station at Northwest Logistics Park in Ballycoolin, serving customers in and around Dublin.
The “buy local” trend which has strengthened since the start of the pandemic continued throughout 2021.
A new study released in September showed that 66% of Irish shoppers plan to continue spending more on local goods and services.
A survey conducted as part of the Office of Local Businesses’ Look for Local campaign found that most consumers buy locally during the summer months to support their local economy.
During this time, we spoke to retailers who were hopeful that the habit of shopping local will continue.
Edel Kennedy runs a women’s clothing store in Nenagh, County Tipperary.
“People suddenly realized what we have on our doorstep and that there is no need to go to places or cities or bigger malls to shop,” she said.
The problem of staff shortages continued throughout September.
Retail Excellence called on the government to reduce the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) more quickly to address the shortages.
He said many people left the industry at the height of the Covid crisis, when the industry was shut down.
But the government has said it has no plans to change its timeline for the PUP’s outcome.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said sectors such as aviation, the arts and entertainment still depend on it.
There were 600,000 people receiving PUP at the height of the pandemic, by September that number had dropped to 100,000.
