2012 Budget signals end of controversial move to rewrite existing leases

Abolition of upwards-only rent reviews place in doubt by confusing government statements

Victoria Square, Belfast tops successful third quarter with new fashion signing

Boots, Poundland and Costa sign for the Tesco-anchored Laois shopping centre ahead of the October 2011 completion

The retail leasing market is showing signs of life despite Ireland’s economic woes.

Ireland and Irish shopping centres have undergone remarkable times in the last 20 years and never more so than recently, writes Sean Kelly.

Ireland and Irish shopping centres have undergone remarkable times in the last 20 years and never more so than recently, writes Sean Kelly

New research from Savills Ireland shows Dublin’s Grafton and Henry Streets are recording occupancy rates of 98.1 and 99.4 per cent respectively

In a new vote of confidence in the Irish market, Danish fashion retailer Bestseller has launched a search for 30 new stores across Ireland in the next 12-18 months

Aviva Investors and Grosvenor have pulled their €350m sale of the 44,000-sq m Liffey Valley shopping centre in Dublin

Abercrombie& Fitch has given a much-needed boost to the Dublin retail market, taking 2,500 sq m at 34 College Green

This month’s opening of the flagship Forever 21 store in Dublin’s Jervis Centre is the latest manifestation of growing demand from international brands for stores in the Republic. And in Spring 2011 it will be joined by Hollister, which is to open its first Irish store at Dundrum.

West Dublin’s largest retail destination, Liffey Valley shopping centre, is 100 per cent let after securing eight new retailers this year.

The Irish Times is reporting that Morley and Grosvenor are close to finding a buyer for their Liffey Valley shopping centre in west Dublin

Meadowhall has become the first centre to roll out a new communications system that also monitors the location of site staff

Signs are emerging that the long decline in the Irish retail market could at last have bottomed out.

While retailers are gradually regaining their optimism, and some are even expanding again, there is little sign of an end to the crisis gripping Ireland’s shopping centre developers and investors

A planning application for a 34 unit outlet centre in Waterford City, Ireland has been submitted.

Junction One in Antrim has signed Holland & Barrett, Quiz and Melka.

Despite the tough economic climate just 2.8 per cent of retail space is vacant on Dublin’s prime Grafton Street, according to Savills.

Ireland's planning appeals board has approved a major development in Bray, south of Dublin.

As the Northern Ireland Region of Shopping Centres prepares for its first-ever conference, as part of its 21st anniversary celebrations, there are signs of renewed activity in the market

The deals drought that has gripped the Dublin retail market for two years finally broke this month, with two significant moves highlighting the fact that rental values have now fallen sufficiently to tempt international brands into the market.

New Look is to make its debut in Dublin city centre with a 40,000-sq ft store in the Jervis Centre. It  will be the largest of its 1,000 stores worldwide.

Republic, the UK’s leading men’s and women’s multi-brand fashion retailer, is entereing the Irish market with three stores in Dublin.

In Dublin’s biggest city centre retail letting for many years US fashion giant Forever 21 has taken 70,000 sq ft in the Jervis Shopping Centre. The move marks the euro-zone debut for the retailer which has 500 stores worldwide.

Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency has completed the transfer of its first tranche of toxic loans, and some key shopping centre investors will now have to justify how they plan to repay their debts.

The Irish planning apeals board, an Bord Pleanála, has given approval for Chartered Land's Dublin Central scheme, clearing the way for John Lewis' first store outside the UK.

The Irish retail market continues to bear the brunt of the current economic downturn, according to the latest bimonthly retail bulletin from CBRE.

The Irish retail market continues to bear the brunt of the current economic downturn, according to the latest bi-monthly bulletin from CBRE.

2009 was the worst year in living memory for the Irish retail property sector. Are there any signs of an improvement on the horizon for 2010?

Cormac Kennedy, executive director of retail at CBRE, sums up the malaise that engulfed the sector last year. “2009 was a very difficult year,” he says. “As the Irish economy experienced an unprecedented downturn and the rate of unemployment increased significantly to more than 12.5 per cent at the year-end, consumer spending was severely curtailed last year with most sectors of the Irish retail market suffering a significant downturn in sales.”
And David Ringer, general manager for UK & Ireland at The Continuity Company concurs: “The retail market in Ireland continues to be immensely challenging,” he says. “The economic decline has exacerbated the already stretched household budget, with reduced disposable income negatively impacting on Irish retailers.”
BCRE’s Kennedy charts the way consumers’ problems affected retailers and the property industry in turn: “Most retailers reported severe cash flow problems during 2009 and there were a number of high-profile casualties,” he says. “As vacancy rates in retail schemes around the country rose last year, rental values came under pressure, with prime retail rents declining by as much as 30 per cent from peak.”
One location that appears to have bucked the trend is Dundrum, and centre director Don Nugent says footfall at the centre was up 6 per cent year-on-year and many retailers in the scheme actually grew sales over the year.
One reason, according to Nugent, is the way the big British-based retailers like House of Fraser, Next, Marks & Spencer, Tesco and River Island aggressively cut their prices during the year to reflect the strength of the Euro against Sterling, with prices ending the year 12 to 15 per cent lower. “The Irish market really had to focus on value during 2009,” he says.
Another winner has been Value Retail’s Kildare Village outlet scheme. Outlets traditionally perform well during a downturn, but with total sales up 11 per cent and footfall up 14 per cent year-on-year, the top stores in the scheme are now generating sales densities as high as €11,400 per sq m. According to Desirée Bollier, chief executive of Value Retail Management, this is approaching the levels seen in some of the top outlet centres across Europe. The centre saw nine new openings during 2009, and Bollier expects it to achieve full occupancy by the middle of 2010.
But these are isolated examples. According to The Continuity Company’s Ringer, the domestic recession has been exacerbated by Irish shoppers’ willingness to cross the border, where the weakness of Sterling and the lower VAT rate created a price environment that the Republic’s retailers simply couldn’t match. He estimates 18 per cent of comparison spend leaked into the North.
“Keeping spend in the Republic is the biggest issue,” he says. “For shopping centres this is even more acute, as they are arguably more vulnerable to cross border leakage than say their grocery counterparts, due to the considered nature of purchases made by their customers.
“The nub of the problem is that shoppers of all demographics perceive that it is cheaper to drive a round trip in excess of two hours to shop across the border, to make a saving.”
But it would be wrong to imagine that, because of this, everything is rosy in Northern Ireland. Osborne King director Colin Mathewson says “2009 was a challenging year for the shopping centre sector.”
However, he says the market showed real signs of improvement during the latter stages of 2009 with a raft of lettings taking place and vacancy levels across the province decreasing significantly: “Although rental levels remained depressed and it is certainly still a tenant’s market, an increase in transactions is a healthy sign.”
One factor that appealed to Northern shoppers as much as those in the Republic is discounting, and Mathewson says a feature of 2009 was the arrival in Northern Ireland of a number of value-driven brands. “During the year B & M Bargains, Poundland, Poundworld, Ethel Austin and T J Hughes all committed to new stores and have been received warmly by the consumer,” he says.
The same emphasis on value has driven a strong performance at the Junction One outlet mall in Antrim, which has just signed Gap for a 6,000-sq ft unit which will be its second outlet store on the island of Ireland.
Centre manager Leona Barr says the scheme enjoyed a strong Christmas, with Marks & Spencer and Next achieving 25 per cent year-on-year sales uplifts.
And Osborne King’s Mathewson highlights Westfield’s Castle Court in Belfast as a scheme that has outperformed in the full-price arena with Christmas footfall up four per cent year-on-year.
Republic is taking the 10,000-sq ft former Zavvi store which trades over two levels on the prominent corner of Royal Avenue and Berry Street. Poundland is another major UK retailer that recently opened its first Northern Irish store at Castlecourt taking a 6,000-sq ft unit at the western end of the lower mall. “The single price point retailer will soon open their eighth store in the province and continues to expand aggressively.” says Mathewson.
Other recent store openings at Castlecourt include Danish modular furniture retailer, Flexa; Orange; Yankee Candle; Teddy Mountain; Gems Jewellery and Costa Coffee which has taken a 1,500-sq ft kiosk on the upper mall outside Superdrug. Osborne King and JLL are joint letting agents at the scheme.
So what of 2010? CBRE’s Kennedy does not expect a quick turnaround for the Republic’s retail market. “We expect to see further downward pressure on rents in various schemes around the country during 2010,” he warns. But he does detect a silver lining for some retailers: “2010 will offer retailers who want to enter the Irish market or expand operations here a unique window of opportunity to negotiate very favourable rents and terms and conditions on newer or larger units.”
But in the North Osborne King’s Mathewson takes a brighter view. “The outlook for the shopping centre sector in Northern Ireland during 2010  appears positive, with increased tenant demand and lower vacancy levels now apparent.,” he says. “Although challenges remain for landlords in terms of rental levels and incentives required to secure tenants, the market appears to have mainly stabilised. While 2010 will still be a year of tenant opportunity, landlords are now regaining some ground”.

Chartered Land’s proposed Dublin Central development, on the Carlton Cinema site on O’Connell Street, has been rejected by An Bord Pleanala.

Irish wholesaler Barry’s has launched a direct challenge to discounters Lidl and Aldi, which have been thriving in the recession, with the trial of its Buy Lo format. A trial store opened on the Tougher Industrial Estate in Newbridge and reportedly traded well before it was forced to close due to planning issues.

Parkway Properties has started construction of the 17,000-sq m Millfield development. Anchored by a 10,000-sq m Tesco Extra store, the scheme will provide 30 shop units over two levels served by 692 parking spaces.

River Island has agreed to double the size of its store in the Square at Tallaght, only nine months after it opened in the centre. Coffee shop operator The Street has also signed up for a store.

An Bord Pleanala has approved Regeneration Developments’ €350m Opera Centre scheme in Limerick. The 38,000-sq m project will create the biggest shopping centre in Ireland’s mid-west, with two floors of retail above a three-level underground car park. Anglo Irish Bank holds a 50 per cent stake in the project.

TK Maxx is planning to open new stores in Galway and Portlaoise before Christmas 2009. The move comes despite a planning wrangle in Waterford, where the local authority ruled that the product mix in the TK Maxx store on the Butlerstown Retail Park was in breach of its planning consent which specified that only bulky goods could be sold.

TopShop has signed up to anchor O’Callaghan Developments’ €500m Opera Avenue development off St Patrick’s Street and Academy Street in Cork. Opera Avenue will bring over 20,000 sq m of new retail space to Cork city centre. The development will also include 61 apartments.

Belfast’s Victoria Square has signed Abercrombie & Fitch’s Southern Californian brand Hollister. The 8,000-sq ft store will be the fast-growing brand’s first in Ireland and is expected to open in late October. The letting will boost Victoria Square’s fashion line-up which already includes names like Ted Baker, Reiss, Firetrap, All Saints and Urban Outfitters.

The opening of Ikea’s Dublin store has been warmly welcomed by Irish shoppers who have been flocking to the store in Ballymun in droves. At times the store has been so busy that the Swedish retailer has been forced to close its car park.

The savage recession is hitting Ireland’s retailers hard but opinion is split on whether two government measures will have the desired effect of easing the sector’s woes.

Shopping centre service charges are under pressure as never before. In the UK the major landlords have agreed a plan of action that will save retailers as much as 20 per cent on their service charge bills. And in the Republic, retailers are demanding across-the-board rent reductions, so service charges are sure to be on the agenda as well.

The Quays shopping centre in Newry is celebrating after becoming the first shopping centre in Northern Ireland to be awarded the Investors in People (IiP) accreditation.

Humility is not a word one would naturally associate with modern professional rugby. Admittedly, rugby has historically been viewed as something of a gentleman’s sport compared with its nearest sibling, soccer, but modern players bathe in the limelight their aptitude with a rugby ball affords. Yet, humility and modesty are two defining characteristics of Lions legend and commercial property consultant, Fergus Slattery.

Superquinn has taken drastic economy measures in the face of intense competition, including from the surge in consumer spending by shoppers going North across the border.

Swords Pavilions has continnued its bid to become the top retail destination on the north side of Dublin with a string of top fashion signings. The centre recently welcomed a host of major new stores including the new Peter Mark concept store Style Club with its ultra-modern approach to styling and exclusive gents barbers, an H&M superstore, Tommy Hilfiger as well as Elverys Sports, Hughes & Hughes and GameStop.

An Bord Pleanala has turned down the retail element of the highly ambitous scheme planned for Greystones, Co Wicklow, by two of Ireland’s best known retail property developers, Sean Dunne and Sean Mulryan.

Despite the highly publicised troubles of the Irish banking sector, it seems that some funding is available for further retail development.

Galway’s long-awaited new shopping centre looks set for further delays. Two years ago, ambitious plans were announced by CIE, the State public transport group, to develop the Ceannt Quarter scheme in the heart of Galway city.

The Junction One outlet centre in Antrim, Northern Ireland, is bucking the economic downturn with a strong sales uplift. The centre reports overall sales up 20 per cent year-on-year. And footfall at the 245,000-sq ft mixed outlet and full-price scheme was also up with over 50 per cent of the stores recording double-digit growth figures.

The credit crunch means the shopping centre development boom is over. So what schemes are on site, and what schemes have been put on ice, asks Hugh Oram

Developer Sean Dunne retains ambitions to be a major player in the Irish retail scene, discovers Hugh Oram

Hugh Oram looks at the inexorable rise of the hard discounters Aldi and Lidl

Tough times mean retailers will be seeking out every last penny, while landlords need to maximise income. Hannah Prevett investigates how managers can handle conflicting interests

With smaller marketing budgets becoming more prevalent, how can shopping centres make the case to potential advertisers? Hannah Prevett investigates

Shopping centres are having to work harder than ever to get people through their doors. But there’s a fine line between well co-ordinated, managed events and purely promotional activity, as Hannah Prevett discovers

The jury is out on where property values are going - some analysts forecast a crash, others believe a soft landing is most likely. While this year will see a slowdown in new openings, the development pipeline is still operating, with a new generation of bigger and more complex schemes on the drawing board.

Readers of Shopping Centre and Shopping Centre Ireland are invited to vote for their favourite retailer and developer. The winners' outstanding contributions to the shopping centre scene across the island of Ireland will be recognised at the awards dinner in Dublin's Conrad Hotel on 18 September 2008.

Hamleys is to open its first Irish store at Dundrum, the 850,000-sq ft shopping centre 5km to the south of Dublin. And Bose and Gerry Weber have also signed up for stores.

Joe O'Reilly's Chartered Land has lodged the planning application for its 1.7 million-sq ft Dublin Central project, linking Henry Street and O'Connell Street in Dublin's Northside.

Planning permission has been granted for the Irish Midlands' biggest retail scheme in Mullingar.

The highly-rated research team at CBRE in Dublin has moved to quell fears of oversupply in the Irish retail market, despite the surge in new development in recent years and a downturn in consumer confidence.

US fashion giant Gant is to open its first stand-alone store in Ireland at Dundrum, the 850,000 sq ft shopping centre 5km to the south of Dublin the centre. The Gant store will trade from 5,800 sq ft over two floors and will be situated in the centre's Pembroke District close to Harvey Nichols, Urban Outfitters and LK Bennett.

Arecent survey by CBRE showed strong penetration of the Irish market by international retailers, led by the UK. So is there still a place for Irish retailers and Irish retail brands in Ireland's shopping mix?

Now that the Athlone Town Centre is up and running as a very successful new regional shopping centre, questions are starting to get asked about whether the wider Midlands area is going to become over-shopped, that too many mall development plans are in the pipeline, especially as consumer spending slows down. But this hasn't deterred the developers.

Cork-based Owen O'Callaghan is one of Ireland's best- known retail property developers, but he's in the public eye for all the wrong reasons - the ongoing Mahon Tribunal at Dublin Castle enquiring into corrupt payments for politicians.

When Harvey Norman announced, with a modest fanfare, just over five years ago, that it was to open two stores in Ireland in the summer of 2003, no one in Irish retailing took much notice. It may have been a big noise in electrical and computer retailing in its native Australia, but it had rarely come to attention in Irish retailing.

In an unprecedented time of challenges, the All Ireland Retail Property Forum unites all sectors of the industry

The highly-rated research team at CBRE in Dublin has moved to quell fears of oversupply in the Irish retail market, despite the surge in new development in recent years and a downturn in consumer confidence.

US fashion giant Gant is to open its first stand-alone store in Ireland at Dundrum, the 850,000 sq ft shopping centre 5km to the south of Dublin the centre. The Gant store will trade from 5,800 sq ft over two floors and will be situated in the centre’s Pembroke District close to Harvey Nichols, Urban Outfitters and LK Bennett.

Planning permission has been granted for the Irish Midlands' biggest-ever retail scheme in Mullingar.

Over the last decade retailers have capitalised on the growing affluence of Irish consumers and expanded into the Irish Republic's E24.4bn retail market, which has grown by 34 per cent over the last five years. As major new shopping centres lift customer spend and a relaxation of store size limits enables development, major international retailers from Ikea to Lidl are being attracted to Ireland's shores.