International Flavour
Published: 23 November, 2010
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.
The diffusion brand of Abercrombie & Fitch will be bringing its southern California-styled fitout to a 7,000-sq ft store in Dundrum as part of a series of new openings that will maintain 100 per cent occupancy at the South Dublin mall.
Recent new additions to the centre include Fat Face, Carphone Warehouse with its new concept store, Cortina’s Mexican Restaurant and Port House Tapas & Wine Bar. And the Irish multi-brand store Born has added to its Galway and Athlone stores by opening a 4,000-sq ft store in the Pembroke District of Dundrum.
Dundrum is now five years old, and a number of stores have invested in their business by refitting their stores. Brands that updated their formats in 2010 include Oasis, House of Fraser, Boots, Molton Brown and Jack & Jones.
And underlying the buoyancy of Dublin’s biggest suburban malls, Liffey Valley is also reporting 100 per cent occupancy, partly on the back of interest from international brands.
The UK-based fashion retailer Republic is just about to open its second store in Ireland, having taken a 5,000-sq ft unit on a new lease. And Barratts Shoes has taken the 2,000-sq ft Unit 28, formerly occupied by Jean Scene store.
Bernadine Hogan, letting agent at Savills, says: “We received about six rental offers for Unit 28 when it became available, which demonstrates the strong demand from retailers for presence in Liffey Valley”.
She adds: “Ironically it may be a case of no room at the inn for retailers this Christmas at Liffey Vally as demand for units in the centre increases. While this may not be great news for prospective retailers waiting for a unit to come free, the shopping experience for customers this Christmas has never been better.”
There is evidence that retail is holding up best in the big cities and in the bigger malls. But David Ringer, general manager for UK & Ireland at The Continuity Company warns: “The retail market in Ireland continues to be immensely challenging. The economic decline has exacerbated the already stretched household budget, with reduced disposable income negatively impacting on Irish retailers.
He adds: “The issue of leakage to Northern Ireland is not new, but has been compounded by the recession and the current strength of the Euro against the pound. This steady upward trend now stands at 18 per cent of total retail spend occurring across the border.
Cork is far enough from the border to be relatively immune from this leakage, and Marks & Spencer has just signed to a new 32,000-sq ft store at Douglas shopping centre.
Douglas is Ireland’s second-oldest shopping centre and owner The Shipton Group has recently invested €90m on a revamp of the entire scheme. Overall, the centre has been extended from 90,000 sq ft to 230,000 sq ft of retail space, with the Tesco anchor store extending from 35,000 to 90,000 sq ft. At the same time the parking was renovated to create a modern parking facility for more than 1,000 cars.
German pet store Maxi Zoo has also recently signed for 5,200 sq ft, taking its first unit in a shopping centre and according to Karl Stewart, retail director at letting agent DTZ Sherry FitzGerald, negotiations are now under way on the remaining MSUs.
