Stevie G: Primetime leaves incredible legacy as closure looms for Cork streetwear store
News of the impending closure of Cork streetwear store Primetime has been greeted with much sadness.
On the surface, a shop which sold streetwear might not seem to be at the fulcrum of the music scene here, but Primetime has played an active role in nearly every aspect of the social fabric of Cork for 34 years now and they will be greatly missed.
No sooner had I submitted last week’s column about the reopening of the Savoy, when I was met with the news that Primetime would be closing for business at the end of this month. I guess things do go in cycles, but Primetime has been with many of us since we were teenagers, and I probably thought it was gonna last forever!
Opening in 1992, it has survived era upon era in Cork, as other shops and venues came and went, and as generations upon generations grew up and changed too. Primetime survived a million different changes in Cork, and always helped set the trends rather than follow them.
Streetwear was much harder to get back in the early ’90s, and Lulu, Niall, Jackie, Kate and all of the Primetime team made it much more accessible for us in Cork. They supported the Skate scene and the Graf scene too, and have even sponsored many skaters and writers. Skaters such as Ross Doyle worked in Primetime before going on to being sponsored by them and brands they stocked such as DC. Local graffiti artist Conor Harrington painted the shop in his early days and is responsible for some of the iconic artwork on their bags. Conor is now one of Ireland’s most renowned street artists and he exhibits and paints large pieces all over the world. There were many other artists/skaters/breakers/rappers and DJs who benefitted from Primetime’s support.
You can see the Primetime logo on a million different posters and flyers from back in the day right up to now, and they have been an important point of contact for ticket sales over the years too. We used to sell tickets for many of our teenage discos there in the Jam Junior days, but Primetime was also endlessly helpful in providing a space for flyers/posters and other necessary promotional material. They brought DJs such as Mr Scruff over, and hosted parties both in and out of the shop, including legendary skate events like the one at the Arcadia back in the late ’90s.
Primetime, like our local record shops, has always been an important community space where people hung out and met each other, and their many hundreds of staff were always out supporting the scene too.
Dance groups and models and DJs and rappers were styled and dressed for photo shoots, while many of us also set up the decks and played gigs in the shop. Visiting acts like the Pharcyde dropped in, while visiting people to Cork would always be steered to the best clubs, bars and parties by the knowledgeable staff, who would often attend themselves. Primetime parties themselves were always fun, and they were part of a community in Cork that represented very much a family affair over the years. Pirate radio, the club scene, skate jams, breaking events and everything else were all closely related, and Primetime were always representing.
As the years rolled by, habits have changed and we now live in an online world where buying many of these exclusive streetwear brands is much easier. Carhartt, a brand stocked only by Primetime back in the day, is now widely available in high street stores such as BT, and fashion that was once almost subversive is as mainstream as the music which was also pretty unique back then. It’s much harder for independent stores to survive and running such ventures continues to be very much a labour of love.
The challenges are many and in Cork Primetime was the one such shop which survived all these years. At Christmas, we sadly lost Mandy Young, who ran a number of Street Wear stores such as Religion back in the day, but most of these great shops are now consigned to our memories. Primetime will soon shut its doors too but many of those who worked there will have benefitted greatly from the experience. And us music people will forever be grateful too. It’s gonna leave an incredible legacy in Cork and beyond.
