Carphone Warehouse announces closure of all Irish stores

Carphone Warehouse has announced that all of its branches in Ireland have closed permanently with immediate effect.

The company had 81 Irish stores, including a large Tullamore outlet in the William Street Mall.

In a statement on its website, the company said it took the "difficult but necessary" decision to shut the Irish stores following the closure of all standalone Carphone Warehouse stores in the UK last year.

It's being reported that just under 500 staff across the country are affected by the store closures.

Outling its reasons for the decision, the company said the pandemic had hastened changes in the way people buy mobile devices.

"Customers are changing the way they buy mobile devices and connectivity, replacing their handsets less often and buying them separately or as part of more flexible bundles," it said.

"Although these changes in behaviour were anticipated, they were expected to occur over a longer period of time. However, the change in shopping behaviours has been accelerated by the pandemic.

"Carphone Warehouse Ireland colleagues have worked hard to make Carphone Warehouse Ireland a success and have been the driving force behind its well-earned reputation for excellent customer service and support. This difficult decision is no reflection on their commitment, dedication, and professionalism."

The company said it was decided that the closures would take effect immediately because footfall in its stores was "down significantly" and "and we don’t expect many customers to sign new contracts with us during this time".

Its website is also closing, but it said it would "continue to help our customers via our central customer support team and will also ask some colleagues to provide operational support over the coming days."