The changing face, and nails, of Dublin via the atomisation of services

Tropical Popical will be open 14 years on South William Street in November.  When we were in the planning stages of opening, the one thing we were sure of was that the nail bar would be on South William Street, the centre of the universe as far as we were concerned.

Our descriptor we came up with for the salon was:

Tropical scenes with a soundtrack of pop via a love affair with Dublin; flashy fashions; colourful nails and more than a dash of kitsch.

The love affair with Dublin is still going strong.  In fact, Dublin remains a key component in our reason for being to this day.  It’s probably the main thing that keeps us going because we truly believe the city needs places like Tropical Popical - independent service led businesses.  We’re not as egotistical to believe that it’s us specifically that the city needs.  It’s more the service industry that brings people into the city and brings them together as they go about their day to day life.  

It’s also the reason we refused to open more salons around the country or franchise.  We wanted Tropical Popical to be something just for Dublin.  A little nook of originality and fun that you wouldn't find on the high street of every international city.  Not that we knew it at the time but we were enacting the theory of “Aura”, coined by Walter Benjamin in his 1936 essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.  His "aura" concept refers to the unique, authentic "here and now" presence of an artwork or concept, defined by its existence in time and space.  And now, with the advent of social media and globalisation, is why everywhere feels the same.  We travel and fly 5,000 miles and our experience doesn’t *really* change - same hotel chain, same Zara, same vibe in the coffee shop.  We need Dublin to have its own aura or more likely, retain its own aura, and be somewhere that couldn't exist anywhere else.

The city has changed immeasurably since we opened and has gone through so much that has changed the dynamic and flow and the city’s very reason for being.  The biggest thing that impacted the city is obviously covid, from the dramatic emptying out of the city into a ghost town during lockdowns and then the less dramatic, but no less impactful shockwaves that have been rocking her ever since.  The natural ecosystem of the city collapsed and has been reestablished purposefully by institutions and developments, without the natural flows allowed to find their way.

With the proliferation of hotels replacing cultural spaces and eradicating the natural cultural ebbs and flows of the centre, the market has responded to being a tourist first city.  The tourist industry continues to cite a lack of hotel beds in the city - which can be true, but at the same time it can be true that we don’t have enough housing; cultural spaces; clubs or third spaces.  But all of these are less commercially important and have less of a lobbying interest.  Which means less and less people are either already in the city or bothering to make the trip into the city as it no longer caters to them and their needs.

So much of the city is also vacant, lying in speculating wait to be opened up as a hotel, leading to dead and unsafe space.  We only have to look at South William Street that was the buzzing artery of the city way before Drury Duty was even a spark in someone’s eye.  Now, when we’re leaving the salon at night, the street is deserted with no eyes on the street from Grogans up to Bambino.

Most new pub or hospitality openings are targeted at tourists looking for a traditional Irish experience and often, instead of them getting that, the new offerings are providing ‘craic agus ceol’ with an Oirish tinge - Temple Bar is spilling out right across the city.

Nearly anything new that opens in town is targeted at tourists.  The old Spy club is now The Stapleton which alternates between a DJ playing in the bar and trad nights in the basement.  The old Gourmet Burger Kitchen, closed in January is reopening as a sports bar.  MJ Wrights on George’s Street is blasting out the Fields of Athenry on the outdoor speakers.  Carroll’s Irish Gift shops are multiplying quicker than doughnut shops in 2017.  And fair play to them.  That’s who the city is being shaped for and it’s tourists that are in the city.  That’s the market baby!

But what that means is that the city is catering less and less to the people who live here.  The services that people need to access to keep their lives functioning are being atomised out of the city.  The action is either taking place closer to their home or online.  With all the discourse, articles and conversations about loneliness epidemics; radicalisation; polarisation; the lack of social cohesion and rise in social fragmentation plus the amount of people turning to evangelical religion to feel like they belong to *something*, I think it’s fair that we can deduce that this atomisation isn’t a good thing.

So if we’re essentially stripping the services out of the city, making less and less reasons for Dubliners to come into the city, that’s going to put pressure on the local, independent service businesses in the city.  Correct?  Correct.

Take beauty businesses for example (how convenient for this blog?).  To capture the same amount of clients who used to visit the city for their trip to the barber, nail salon or hairdresser, these businesses have to atomise their offering and instead of having one salon in town, they have to diversify their interests to multiple salons in multiple locations to try and capture the same clients to keep their business viable.

This then has an impact on orbiting businesses.  When people come into the city for their hair or nails, they’ll grab a coffee on the way; have lunch afterwards or go for a drink in the evening and meet friends (ahhhh, socialising, how we’ve deprioritised you).  When you’re just popping into the local salon, your journey is direct and focused.  There’s less of a centre point to meet friends or make new ones in the city CENTRE! Insert light bulb emoji here.  This leads to further lack of diversification in the type of people we’re meeting, stunting our outlooks to within our bubbles of our local environs.  We have less reason to mix with people who are different to us; have different interests and have different opinions.  It becomes harder to empathise with people who are walking in different shoes to ours and leads to further social fragmentation.  And all from not getting your nails done in town! 🙂

The pressure on local, independent, service businesses is becoming more and more of an issue as we see closure after closure across the city.  

From The Irish Independent’s article ‘‘Margins are getting smaller and smaller’ – Irish business owners on struggle to stay afloat as costs soar” - “Neil McDonnell, chief executive of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME), said they were experiencing mounting pressure despite positive headline economic indicators, which he feels largely reflects big international business in Ireland, not indigenous traders.

“Profitability has been hugely squeezed because on the one hand, your costs are going up, and on the other hand, consumer sentiment and confidence has been going down. Anyone who has a high labour cost as a percentage of sales is in trouble,” Mr McDonnell said, citing hospitality, childcare, beauty services and retail.”

In the same article, Anita Murray, co-founder of The Irish Spa Association said the sector was “being squeezed from every direction”.

“The reality is business has become increasingly unsustainable. Spiralling energy costs, rising wages, insurance premiums, consumables and regulatory burdens are colliding all at once and many businesses are now operating on razor-thin margins, or ultimately at a loss,” she said.

We recently raised our prices and have had a few emails from clients telling us they can no longer afford to visit us.  Which puts the kybosh on our efforts to charge what we need to to cover the costs of running the salon.  The balance to remain competitive, remain aware of the (ongoing) cost of living crisis whilst also not running at a loss is the main equation businesses are trying to figure out right now.   

As margins become tighter in beauty businesses in particular, it is increasingly difficult for employers to compete with the prices as a result of the lower costs involved for individuals setting up ‘studios’ or working from home.  They can operate in silos without many of the financial implications of running a business with rates; insurance; rent and staff who require a payroll; PRSI; PAYE; and now pensions.

A black market is also developing where as people move away from businesses and salons to work alone, there is an emerging cash business (cash is good!) but the black market means a loss of vat & paye payments to government coffers.

The atomisation of the industry to lone traders also contributes to less opportunities to bring people together in a group environment.  Taking away opportunities to gather and mix is never a good idea (circles back to loneliness epidemics; radicalisation; polarisation; the lack of social cohesion and rise in social fragmentation plus the amount of people turning to evangelical religion). 

Of course, the great thing about having a skill that can be done from home makes it ideal for new parents and those that can’t commit to full time employment to create or supplement their income.  And having services closer to your home in orbital towns and villages of the city is the main objective of creating a 15 minute city where people can walk to fulfill their needs.  But that does have an impact on the actual city centre - the capital city - that we can’t ignore.

If we want a thriving and bustling city that feels authentic and populated by locals, we have to have housing, services and amenities that draw people into using the city.  Otherwise, it simply will become a pastiche of what Dublin used to be.  Or, unfortunately, become more of a pastiche than it already is.

It feels like we’re actually encouraging the opposite of ‘The 10 Big Moves’ that came about from the Dublin Taskforce established in 2024, ideas that have been spoken about and reports created about and reported on for a long time came up again that were about creating a city that’s alive - revitalise social housing in the city; create compelling reasons to visit; convert derelict sites to high-density residential (did we really need a taskforce to come up with these???) - by driving services for people who live here out of the city and not questioning why it is the small businesses that naturally achieve this ecosystem the task force is aiming for, that are really struggling to survive right now.

Part of the goal of creating compelling reasons to visit the city is creating initiatives like Dublin By Dusk - a special co-ordinated programme by DCC, Failte Ireland and the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport on the last Thursday of each month to encourage more people to experience the city in the early evening with later opening for museums, galleries and businesses. Whilst initiatives like these are helpful, it kinda just shines a light on what we’ve lost when the city organically had life and activity taking place for and by the people who live here, drawing crowds of Dubliners to use their city regularly without needing such initiatives to lure them in.

But back to that Irish Independent article:

A recent ISME policy paper detailed a belief that the State has “relied too heavily on the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) sector”, and that “while producing high wages, high levels of corporation tax, high current account spending and ballooning GDP figures, the long-term return and value-add to Ireland is questionable, and potentially unreliable.”

The Department of Enterprise said that a Cost of Business Advisory Forum would inform recommendations to the Government “to address issues that merit a changed approach” to “ensure businesses navigating today’s economic landscape remain a competitive, resilient and supportive environment for enterprise”.

Which is all well and good but we won’t hold our breath. 

So now, really it all boils down to the need for us all to ask who the city is really for as it becomes more and more of a playground for tourists and more importantly, how we’re going to be part of ensuring it remains a city that serves the needs of the people that live here.  Because if it continues on the trajectory that it currently is, the services for the people of Dublin will have been atomised into oblivion and the reasons for Dubliners to be in the city will have gone up in smoke.

Use it or lose it!

It really is time to put your money where your mouth is.  If there is somewhere you would hate to not exist in the city anymore, make sure you make it your business to visit it now.  Before it’s too late and the aura of Dublin is fully extinguished.