Retail innovator and independent Senator Feargal Quinn,along with RTÉ television cameras, visited Burgess of Athlone last Friday to film an episode of the new TV series of Feargal Quinn’s Retail Therapy.
According to the retail visionary, Burgess is “of international class” and “looks sensationally good”. Mr Quinn originally visited Burgess in 2009 when he advised store owner and manager Rosie Boles on a dramatic refurbishment of Ireland’s longest established department store. Mr Quinn was back on Friday with the TV cameras to see how the business is doing and how his advice has had a positive impact on one of the Midlands’ most popular department stores.
Speaking during filming, Mr Quinn said, “My first impression is that the store looks fabulous. It looks great from the outside and is very inviting. It really does look sensationally good and I would say it is of international class. It’s much more spacious and the merchandising has improved dramatically since we were here last time. I have to say I’m very impressed by the new look and feel.”
Burgess owner and manager, Rosie Boles, said, “Feargal’s advice has had a significant impact on the success of Burgess in recent years. We made a lot of changes to the store following the show’s visit two years ago, including completely re-doing the shop front and maintaining the shop windows to a very high standard so as to make them more appealing to customers and encourage them to come in to see what we have on offer.
“We also worked hard on our merchandising, uncluttering the store so as to simplify the shopping experience for our customers. The most dramatic change was to our homeware, cookware, and soft furnishings department downstairs; following flood damage a year ago we undertook a complete renovation of that department. We’re very pleased with the outcome.”
