Untitled - Cork City Council

Appendix 3 : The Surveys of Shopping Patterns
Point and €111 in the City Centre. Non residents spent very little on convenience goods so their
expenditure on comparison goods was considerably higher than that of all shoppers.
11 If we take account of these differences in expenditure it can be shown that people from outside
the county accounted for 8% of Mahon Point’s comparison trade and 14% of that in the City
Centre. By contrast, their contribution to convenience turnover was negligible – less than 1% at
Mahon Point and only just over 1% in the City Centre
12 Returning to the entire shopper sample, we asked what other centres they used for buying
clothes and shoes (Table 4.5)
Table 5 Other Centres for Clothes or Shoes
Mahon Point City Centre
No of respondents 401 587
% %
No other centre 7.5 15.9
City Centre/ Mahon Point 68.0 56.5
Any centre in Dublin 3.9 8.3
Galway 1.6 0.2
Waterford 1.9 2.4
Limerick 3.3 5.1
Douglas Court/ Village 47.0 31.3
Fermoy 1.5 3.0
Mallow 1.4 4.5
Skibbereen 0.3 3.2
Clonalkilty 2.2 3.5
Wilton 15.2 15.9
Blackpool 7.3 13.9
Midleton/ Youghal 2.9 3.4
Ballincollig 1.7 3.8
Can't say/whereever I am 0.1 0.9
Outside Ireland 0.0 2.4
Elsewhere Ireland 4.7 5.7
Total percentage 170.5 179.9
13 A few said there was no other centre. Of those at Mahon Point the majority gave Cork City
centre and, vice versa, of those in the City Centre the majority gave Mahon Point. Douglas
Court/Village was also important, followed by Wilton and Blackpool. The remaining suburban
centres, together with the county towns, attracted less than 10% apiece, as did external centres
like Dublin, Galway, Waterford or Limerick.
14 When asked which centre was the main centre for clothes or shoes, 71% of those interviewed in
the City centre gave the City centre and 54% of those at Mahon Point gave Mahon Point. At the
same time 28% of those at Mahon Point gave the City centre and 8% of those at the City centre
gave Mahon Point. By contrast, the other centres, including Douglas Court/ Village trailed a long
way behind, with only 5% or fewer choices apiece. So taking clothing and footwear as a proxy
for general comparison shopping the City centre and Mahon Point clearly have a firm grip on
this sector.
15 These data give an initial picture of comparison shopping patterns. A more systematic view is
provided by the household survey, described later in this section. We next asked shoppers at
Mahon Point and the City Centre why they used these centres (Table 4.6).
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