Kind of like a post office that also sold appliances
Ah before 2000 there were no power lines so you’d have to bring your batteries there to get charged for you could have power at home…
Dad had a book and used to go in there to pay off his bill. I guess it’s probably how you log in to the site these days and pay your bill. But instead of LOGGING IN you WALK IN. And instead of CLICKING Pay Bill , you speak to Mary about the weather and tell her to knock a tenner off the bill this week.
EDIT: Oh and you could also buy a kettle or a washing machine
Gather round, m’boy, and hear tell of a wondrous time…
Had TV, washing machines, fridges etc for sale. You could pay for them through hire purchase rather than buying up front. You could also pay your ESB bill in the shops too.
The year they were closing they had some great bargains as they disposed of stock. I can imagine the staff restocked their house with appliances for a total of about a hundred quid.
ah they were buzzing
The equivalent of Expert Electrical these days, and you could add it to your bill over a few months
You’d bring in a glass bottle to get a refill of electricity
Bought my first pc circa 2001 in there. Was a Compaq and was anything but compact.
Wasn’t there a telecom eireann equivalent store also?
Never went into one but it was always washing machines for sale that I saw in there.
Then a group of lads from West Yorkshire came over and thought they’d TUPE across all the staff, re train them as retail bankers and re open all the ESB appliance stores as Halifax branches instead……little did they know that the shops were in poor footfall locations for banking, realised planning etc and refits would take 4 times longer than expected and by the time they opened 3/4 of their Halifax branches the economy collapsed and all the branches closed…. The sold off for buttons at auction…. Well done ESB, the only winner here 🙂
Just fuckin Tesla coils singing blue lightening everywhere across industrial iron grids. That hum was glorious.
Got my ps2 day one there, god send as a teenager. Would give the mother a few quid from part time job to pay for it every week. Great loss actually. Was very handy
Originally there weren’t many places you could get electrical goods, and they were quite expensive. Also people were typically paid their wages in cash. The ESB shops meant they could give people somewhere to pay their bills without needing a bank account, and could buy things like washing machines, electric kettles, irons, refrigerators, etc and get financing on them which they’d pay off with their electricity bill. There wasn’t much risk they wouldn’t pay it back as they could have their power cut off for non payment
The esb shops were a god send in the 80’s. You could get a fridge, a TV, a cooker, a washing machine at very low weekly rates. Low income families relyed on it.
white goods that you could pay over time on you electricity bill I remember them being quiet nice
I remember the one in Waterford was huge, it was in the Menapia building, which is now the Waterford Crystal showroom downstairs. It was such an ugly building, but to me it was like a proper skyscraper.
And just like that the jingle is back in my head “shop electric, double discount deals!”
Between these and Totterdells my parents were in the height of the Tiger. What a time to be alive.
What year did they close?
Remember going to the one in the square in Tallaght. Me ma would go in with the book to pay off the washing machine she bought on tick. Place had every domestic appliance available in the 90’s. I distinctly remember If we were waiting longer then 5 minutes I would throw a massive wobbler.
My auld pair kitted the house out with stuff from there….definitely couldn’t have afforded it without these shops, pretty much hire purchase but because interest rates were sky high from banks it works out fairly good value
They were fairly common. My local town with less than 10k population had one.
I remember being sent into town every couple weeks to psy the bull with thst book of theirs.
I recall it being full of fridges and cookers of every type.
Okay appliances, with the cost added to your electric bill every month. Far nicer than a credit card or a loan.
Our freezer was bought in one of them. It’s as old as I am.
It’ll be working when I’m in the grave.
We also got 25 years out of a Shop Electric washing machine – until the seals finally perished.
Still have the Telecom Eireann phones floating around.
OMG, that brings back memories. When I was little, used to go to one with my nanna on pension day. She had a book that was used to pay weekly for appliances.
I know the stores were still around in the 00s, but the early 90s is where the memories are.
Could buy electrical appliances and related items, I can actually remember getting Spyro: Year of the Dragon for the original PlayStation at one of them
The one in ballier was great for getting a hiding outside.
Thought that was Matt Hancock in his Huel-drinking clothes for a second
Why did they close? They were a godsend.
Jesus, I don’t remember these lol
Buzzing
Shocking what went on there
We got a Flymo strimmer in there. What an amazing shop.
Felt like a smaller but better quality Power City
Sort of like a branch of Currys but in a 1980s eastern European communist state.
No abortion, no contraception, no divorce, closeted gays, religious bigotry; dark times, for which ESB would let you buy a lightbulb on tick, with a leery wink.
They sold electricity in a variety of plastic bottle sizes.
45 comments
They had appliances in them
Electrical goods added to your bill on tick.
Kind of like a post office that also sold appliances
Ah before 2000 there were no power lines so you’d have to bring your batteries there to get charged for you could have power at home…
Dad had a book and used to go in there to pay off his bill. I guess it’s probably how you log in to the site these days and pay your bill. But instead of LOGGING IN you WALK IN. And instead of CLICKING Pay Bill , you speak to Mary about the weather and tell her to knock a tenner off the bill this week.
EDIT: Oh and you could also buy a kettle or a washing machine
Gather round, m’boy, and hear tell of a wondrous time…
Had TV, washing machines, fridges etc for sale. You could pay for them through hire purchase rather than buying up front. You could also pay your ESB bill in the shops too.
Might be of interest to you [https://esbarchives.ie/](https://esbarchives.ie/)
The year they were closing they had some great bargains as they disposed of stock. I can imagine the staff restocked their house with appliances for a total of about a hundred quid.
ah they were buzzing
The equivalent of Expert Electrical these days, and you could add it to your bill over a few months
You’d bring in a glass bottle to get a refill of electricity
Bought my first pc circa 2001 in there. Was a Compaq and was anything but compact.
Wasn’t there a telecom eireann equivalent store also?
Never went into one but it was always washing machines for sale that I saw in there.
Then a group of lads from West Yorkshire came over and thought they’d TUPE across all the staff, re train them as retail bankers and re open all the ESB appliance stores as Halifax branches instead……little did they know that the shops were in poor footfall locations for banking, realised planning etc and refits would take 4 times longer than expected and by the time they opened 3/4 of their Halifax branches the economy collapsed and all the branches closed…. The sold off for buttons at auction…. Well done ESB, the only winner here 🙂
You could literally buy buckets of electricity
https://youtu.be/iRqdMVkBEsA
Just fuckin Tesla coils singing blue lightening everywhere across industrial iron grids. That hum was glorious.
Got my ps2 day one there, god send as a teenager. Would give the mother a few quid from part time job to pay for it every week. Great loss actually. Was very handy
Originally there weren’t many places you could get electrical goods, and they were quite expensive. Also people were typically paid their wages in cash. The ESB shops meant they could give people somewhere to pay their bills without needing a bank account, and could buy things like washing machines, electric kettles, irons, refrigerators, etc and get financing on them which they’d pay off with their electricity bill. There wasn’t much risk they wouldn’t pay it back as they could have their power cut off for non payment
The esb shops were a god send in the 80’s. You could get a fridge, a TV, a cooker, a washing machine at very low weekly rates. Low income families relyed on it.
white goods that you could pay over time on you electricity bill I remember them being quiet nice
I remember the one in Waterford was huge, it was in the Menapia building, which is now the Waterford Crystal showroom downstairs. It was such an ugly building, but to me it was like a proper skyscraper.
And just like that the jingle is back in my head “shop electric, double discount deals!”
Between these and Totterdells my parents were in the height of the Tiger. What a time to be alive.
What year did they close?
Remember going to the one in the square in Tallaght. Me ma would go in with the book to pay off the washing machine she bought on tick. Place had every domestic appliance available in the 90’s. I distinctly remember If we were waiting longer then 5 minutes I would throw a massive wobbler.
My auld pair kitted the house out with stuff from there….definitely couldn’t have afforded it without these shops, pretty much hire purchase but because interest rates were sky high from banks it works out fairly good value
They were fairly common. My local town with less than 10k population had one.
I remember being sent into town every couple weeks to psy the bull with thst book of theirs.
I recall it being full of fridges and cookers of every type.
Okay appliances, with the cost added to your electric bill every month. Far nicer than a credit card or a loan.
Our freezer was bought in one of them. It’s as old as I am.
It’ll be working when I’m in the grave.
We also got 25 years out of a Shop Electric washing machine – until the seals finally perished.
Still have the Telecom Eireann phones floating around.
OMG, that brings back memories. When I was little, used to go to one with my nanna on pension day. She had a book that was used to pay weekly for appliances.
I know the stores were still around in the 00s, but the early 90s is where the memories are.
Could buy electrical appliances and related items, I can actually remember getting Spyro: Year of the Dragon for the original PlayStation at one of them
The one in ballier was great for getting a hiding outside.
Shocking.
[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FMwnh3nWYAYZRHn.jpg](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FMwnh3nWYAYZRHn.jpg)
Thought that was Matt Hancock in his Huel-drinking clothes for a second
Why did they close? They were a godsend.
Jesus, I don’t remember these lol
Buzzing
Shocking what went on there
We got a Flymo strimmer in there. What an amazing shop.
Felt like a smaller but better quality Power City
Sort of like a branch of Currys but in a 1980s eastern European communist state.
No abortion, no contraception, no divorce, closeted gays, religious bigotry; dark times, for which ESB would let you buy a lightbulb on tick, with a leery wink.
They sold electricity in a variety of plastic bottle sizes.