Shopping debuts in West End
Published: 10 November, 2006
The West End development at Blanchardstown, Dublin, has repositioned itself as Ireland's first shopping park, a sophisticated upgrade on the traditional-style retail park. Owned by the Dublin-based Cosgrave Property Group, West End opened in 1999.
During the past two-and-a-half years, explains Paul McGrath of Cosgrave, "It's been a tough time, but it was worth it." Four of the original tenants were bought out and a fifth, Classic Furniture, was persuaded to reduce its footprint by 50 per cent.
Cosgrave decided to reposition the development - next door to the Blanchardstown centre itself -as a fashion and lifestyle-led retail park. This was a new concept for Ireland, but McGrath and his colleague at Cosgrave, Enda Fahy, together with centre director Kieran Kennerley, are confident the new concept is working well.
"We're getting a steady week-on-week increase in shopper traffic," he says. Plans are in train to produce detailed footfall statistics for the centre, so in the meantime, they're counting the increasing number of cars arriving. The whole car park area has been redesigned and landscaped, and now the park is getting about 35,000 cars a week, a steadily increasing number.
Storewise, the development is now heavily geared towards fashion, with such outlets as Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Laura Ashley (one of the original tenants), Jean Scene and Pavers Shoes. The big new addition has been Next, which decided to go for the greater 3,700 sq m space it needed, closing its outlet in the next-door Blanchardstown centre when it moved into West End. Trading levels are running well above initial expectations.
Classic Furniture also made a complete transformation from its original shop to an ultra-modern two-level unit, complete with galleries for its furniture.
The newest store, which was due to open at the end of October, will heighten the impact on consumers. It's the first Borders store to open in Ireland. The two-level unit totals just over 1,800 sq m. It has vast stocks of more than 200,000 book, music and film titles, has a Starbucks with seating for 40 people, a kiddies' section complete with storyteller and a Paperchase stationery section.
Paul Rutherford, the general manager, says that Borders has been keen to come to Ireland for some time and he hopes that this will be the first of more Borders stores in the Irish market.
"We chose West End because it is one of the busiest parks in the country and it gave us the space we needed. It also fits in well with our lifestyle retailing concepts."
Also about to open at West End is a new 158 sq m kiosk location for Costa Coffee. This will represent a major upgrade in facilities available for shoppers at the retail park. Costa Coffee has taken a 25-year lease for E100,000 pa, with five yearly rent reviews.
Altogether, Cosgrave estimates it has spent E25m on the upgrade. True to its traditions, Cosgrave opted for high spec, high quality in the design and fitout of the new-look retail park. Cosgrave began life as a high-quality residential developer, with a strong reputation for quality.
The retail park now has nearly its complete quota of retailers, with 18 units being the ultimate aim. As a result of the upgrade, the park is now producing significantly better rent returns. Before, rents were from E107 psm to E215 psm; now, rents are around E484 psm. These rents compare very favourably with those in the next-door Blanchardstown centre, where the average Class A rent is around E2,000 psm and tenants are facing increases of at least 60 per cent in the impending reviews.
Bernadine Hogan of HOK, which is the letting agent for West End, comments: "It has set a lot of precedents for fashion retailers relocating to retail parks, where the rents and other outgoings are more affordable, especially for larger space users. They are a lot less than typical shopping centre costs. In the UK, these parks are very successful and we've aimed to achieve the same success in West End."
Now, many other retail parks in Ireland are beginning to wonder if they too can make a similar successful switch to fashion and lifestyle trading.
