The euro's introduction caused large queues and larger headaches in one of Galway's main retail outlets yesterday, when it opened for restricted New Year's Day business in the afternoon.
Customers of Pat Joyce's supermarket in the western suburb of Knocknacarra were asked to change pounds to euros at a service counter before paying for purchases at the retail tills.
However, when contacted by The Irish Times, Mr Pat Joyce, the supermarket owner, denied that this was the case and said that there had been some "confusion" among staff in the first couple of hours of trading. Signs advising customers of this requirement had been placed at the entrance and were still in place at 4.30 p.m. yesterday. Staff at the main tills were refusing to take pounds, but would accept credit cards.
Queues for the "exchange" at the customer services desk stretched well out the main door at one point, in bitterly cold weather.
Mr Joyce acknowledged that the system may have been applied in the first couple of hours of trading, but shortly before 6 p.m. he said the exchange was merely to facilitate customers. Pounds could be presented at all tills, he added. "A lot of people are delighted to have this exchange service, and I have had no complaints," he said.
Joyce's supermarket serves a catchment of almost 12,000 in Knocknacarra.
Smaller shops which opened in and around Galway yesterday were accepting pounds and returning change in euro.
