The retail industry in Ireland employs c285,000 people. That is 12.5% of the working population. As leaders in the sector, we are very proud at Bannon to manage over 50 shopping destinations across the country. These destinations are home to over 1,100 businesses who in turn employ 10’s of thousands of local people. Supporting trade locally is supporting your local community. As we reset after COVID, make the right choice, shop local.
Another first for Blanchardstown Centre and part of a run of some exciting announcements for the scheme. Having the first Sky Store in Ireland will bring some interesting animation and events to the centre.
We are delighted to have advised Falcon AM and Blanchardstown Centre on this letting working with Eoin Feeney on the successful deal.
Penneys will bring its ‘Amazing Fashion at Amazing Prices’ to The Square Town Centre as the much-loved iconic Irish retailer announces that a new Penneys store will open at the centre, marking the continued expansion of the brand in Ireland. The new store will provide a huge boost to the local economy and create 300 new jobs for the community, with doors opening to customers next year.
The new store will be located on the ground floor of The Square Town Centre and will boast 43,000 sq ft of retail space which will feature Penneys’ famous affordable fashion favourites, including the latest seasonal trends along with everyday must-haves for everyone. The much-anticipated arrival of Penneys to The Square Town Centre will mark the retailer’s 37th store in Ireland; a significant milestone for the company that operates in over 395 locations across Europe and North America.
Damien O’Neill, Head of Sales, Penneys ROI, said; “We are really excited to confirm the opening of our new store in Tallaght next year. Penneys is iconic in Ireland; we have a strong presence in Dublin and across Ireland, and it’s really important to us when opening any new store, that we do so in the right location. We couldn’t wish for a better location for our next store in our home market than in The Square Town Centre. In the coming months, our teams will be working hard to bring Penneys’ unique in-store design and customer experience offering to life and we are looking forward to opening our doors to customers later next year.”
Jack Martin, Head of Retail for The Square Town Centre, said; “We are absolutely delighted with this announcement as it has been long overdue for Tallaght. Penneys is a fantastic retailer that will add a great offering to the Centre. For many years, the people of Tallaght have been very vocal in their desire to have Penneys in The Square and I have no doubt they will celebrate this news with us and make this opening a very successful and memorable one. This will bring jobs and prosperity to Tallaght and we are very excited to be partnering with such a great brand.”
Freda O’Donnell, The Square Town Centre’s asset manager from Sigma Retail Partners, said; “We are so pleased to announce that Penneys will be opening in The Square; a huge refit of the space is underway, and we are very excited with Penneys’ plans for their new store. Since we were appointed asset managers of the Square Town Centre in 2018, securing Penneys as a tenant has been a priority for Sigma Retail Partners and we are thrilled that they are joining our tenant line-up. They will no doubt be very successful, and we wish them all the best for now and the many years to come.”
Cushman and Wakefield and Bannon are joint letting agents for the owners of The Square while Penneys were advised by Savills.
The Square Town Centre was acquired by US private equity giant Oaktree Capital in 2018 and it is asset managed by Sigma Retail Partners. It currently has 160 retail units and more than 2,400 car spaces. The Square Town Centre consists of 577,500 sq. ft located on a site of 27 acres. Hugely popular with shoppers, the centre attracts footfall of over 15 million people each year.
Krispy Kreme has chosen Swords Pavilions shopping centre in North County Dublin for the site of its second store in Ireland.
The new Swords shop is due to open this winter and will be located in the former KFC unit, beside Elverys Sports and Penneys in the shopping centre.
Krispy Kreme opened its first store in Ireland – in Dublin’s Blanachardstown – in 2018.
Hammerson and Irish Life are joint owners of the Swords Pavilions shopping centre.
With over 100 retail, dining and entertainment brands at Swords Pavilions, Krispy Kreme joins The Gift Shed, a new pop-up concept by the Kilkenny Group, fashion brand Catch and music store Golden Discs as recent openings in the shopping centre.
Ciara Connolly, Head of Leasing, Ireland at Hammerson, said it was a real vote of confidence in Swords Pavilions that a household name such as Krispy Kreme has chosen to join the centre in the early stages of its Irish expansion.
Retail is back and it’s here to stay, says Christine Dolan of Quayside Shopping centre in Sligo Town.
The centre manager believes that the majority of Irish consumers prefer the social experience of a trip to the shops over the convenience of e-tail.
She told the All-Ireland Business Times that Quayside is busier than ever.
“I think people have missed coming into the shops”, she said. “It’s a totally different experience to shopping online.”
“People love the social aspect of a day out shopping and I think most people are sick of the virtual experiences – there are a lot of people who have been quite lonely through the pandemic and you can’t beat meeting up with friends for a lunch date while having a browse through the shops.”
“There’s a great buzz around at the moment and people are starting to mix again and enjoy themselves.”
A 2020 report by Deloitte found that retail is Ireland’s largest industry and the largest private sector employer, employing almost 300,000 workers – with three in four of those employed based outside of Dublin.
Quayside Shopping Centre opened its doors in 2005 as the largest shopping centre in the northwest of Ireland.
With 130,000 feet of floor space the centre boasts 43 retailers including TK Maxx, Lifestyle Sports and Next.
Quayside lost two retailers over the pandemic, one of them was a Carphone Warehouse store which was a casualty of the Group’s decision to close 80 stores in Ireland last year.
Christine revealed that units have since been filled by two new tenants with more set to come on board.
While Christine admits that competing against online retailers will be a tough challenge in the years to come, she is not worried about the long term future of her industry.
“What we’ve proven here time and time again is that we are resilient.”
“We’ve been through a recession and we’ve come out stronger on the other end so I have no doubt that we will get back to where we were pre-pandemic.”
“In fact, I think we’ll be in a better place.”
According to the Central Statistics Office’s Retail Sales Index retail sales increased by 3.3% in June this year compared to May on a seasonally adjusted basis. On an annual basis, retail volumes were 10.6 per cent higher than in June last year.
Interestingly the retail sales figure for June this year was 13.4% higher when compared to two years earlier, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Quayside Shopping Centre recently landed its third Business All-Star Accreditation in recognition of its contribution to retail in Ireland.
Reacting to the news, Christine said: “I am delighted to be part of an ambitious All-Star Business. To be accredited for the third year in a row is a huge honour and I see it as recognition of the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.”
Quayside’s focus over the next few months is to promote the “shopping centre experience” and Christine revealed that the centre will be introducing an initiative to help local craftspeople and creators.
She said: “We have plans to relaunch our very successful Christmas markets and hope to do this a little bit early this year. The markets provide a wonderful opportunity for local traders who may have been out of work the last while and want the chance to set up a pop up shop or trading stall.”
“We really want to celebrate with our customers and give something back to the local community this year.”
To learn more about Quayside Shopping Centre Sligo, visit their All-Star showcase page here.
Thurles Shopping Centre has just opened a new store The Gourmet Butcher in the last two weeks. This is their second store with the first one in Clonmel, Tipperary. The new store has a lovely, modern-looking fitout. The Gourmet Butcher are speciality Artisan butchers who are locally-owned and independently run, supplying the highest quality locally sourced meat and dry aged beef.
The owner Kevin Walsh, a Tipperary businessman, decided to expand his operations despite the uncertainty caused by the ongoing pandemic and up to eight jobs have been created in the newly opened store. He said “Thurles Shopping Centre is a location we have been looking at on and off for the last two years. Our business model is a proven model and we won Best Retailer in Tipperary with the Chamber Business Awards two years ago. We think we’ll be a really good fit for the centre – there’s a massive grocery footfall there. We just think that our set-up, which is a traditional butcher with a modern twist, will go really well in that area.”
Sigma Retail Partners, the asset management company for Thurles Shopping Centre, acquired the centre in July 2015 and has put in place an active asset management plan since its acquisition. Emma Leonard from Sigma Retail Partners is the asset manager for Thurles Shopping Centre. She said “We warmly welcome The Gourmet Butcher to the shopping centre and believe they will bring a fresh offer to the centre’s customers. The Gourmet Butcher has received an overwhelming response in their first few weeks of trading and we are confident that they will do very well in the centre. I wish them all the best in their new store.”
Thurles Shopping Centre is walking distance from Thurles Town Centre and has a floor area of 110,000 sq ft. It has a footfall of approximately 55,000 per week and houses 600 car park spaces. Anchored by Dunnes Stores, it has 28 units in total with retailers including Boots, Vodafone, Holland & Barrett and Carraig Donn.
Dungarvan Shopping Centre is excited to announce that it has just added Eir to its established list of retail stores.
This latest store in Dungarvan Shopping Centre has further increased the wide variety of shops already trading in the shopping centre. The brand Eir is very well-known in Ireland and it is one of the principal providers of fixed-line and mobile telecommunications services, serving approximately two million customers. The Eir group provides a comprehensive range of advanced voice, data, broadband and TV services to the residential, small business, enterprise and government markets.
Paddy O’Connor from Sigma Retail Partners is the Asset Manager for Dungarvan Shopping Centre. He said “We are fortunate that one of the leading brands of telecommunications services in Ireland has opened a new store in Dungarvan Shopping Centre. We have always believed in the importance of offering a wide range of retailers in all our shopping centres, for our customers and the local community, and the new Eir store complements very well to the tenant mix. Their new fit-out looks great and we wish them the best of luck in the centre.”
Anchored by Dunnes Stores, Dungarvan Shopping Centre has a total of 34 retailers including Eason, Carraig Donn, Game Stop and Lloyds Pharmacy. Dungarvan Shopping Centre is located in the centre of Dungarvan town centre and has a large multi-storey car park available to its customers.
Maxi Zoo has confirmed that it will open a new store in Sligo Retail Park in September this year. Fit-out works have already begun, and this will be their first store in Sligo.
The store will be over 7,000 sq. ft and much to the delight of pet lovers in the local community and the surrounding catchment areas, it will stock their extensive range of pet products.
Maxi Zoo is Ireland’s largest pet retailer with 20 stores in the Republic of Ireland, and opened its first store in Ballincollig, Cork in 2006 and the company currently employs over 170 staff. It supports numerous local animal welfare charities and is Ireland’s largest pet retailer and part of the Fressnapf Group, with over 1,650 stores across Europe with more than 8,000 products in their range.
Paddy O’Connor, Asset Manager from Sigma Retail Partners, said “Maxi Zoo is a very strong brand in Ireland and Europe and we are delighted that they will be joining the tenant line-up in Sligo Retail Park. Maxi Zoo also has stores in two of our retail parks that we manage, Naas and Waterford Retail Parks, and their business continues to perform strongly despite the current challenging times. We are confident they will continue their success in the new Sligo store and warmly welcome them into the retail park and wish them all the best.”
Darren Spoonley from Maxi Zoo said “Maxi Zoo Ireland are looking forward to opening our first store in Sligo as part of our ongoing expansion plan, bringing our store network to 21. We are excited to bring our huge range of pet products to new customers. Our highly trained teams will be on hand to advise on all your pet needs and highlight our fantastic prices and offers.”
Sligo Retail Park is the primary retail park destination in the North West catchment area with stores catering to a wide variety of customers and accommodates diverse retail use. It has a total of 14 retailers that include JYSK, Currys PC World, Smyths Toys, Homebase, Castle Davitt, Right Price Tiles, Pet Stop Discount, Homestore & More, EZ Living, McDonalds, Costa and KFC, with 1,000 free car parking spaces.
Bannon would like to extend a big thank you to Ross Barron (Director – Resure Corporate Brokers) and Dr. Paul Cummins (Managing Director – SeaChange) for their recent presentation on Liability Insurance / Health & Safety. It was also great to see such a strong attendance from the on site teams across our portfolio. We all gained some very valuable insights on subjects which play a huge part in our industry.
There is an air of positivity coming from our shopping centre & retail park management teams across the country. It has been great to see the rebound in footfall since full reopening of our portfolio on the 17th of May last. The first three weeks since reopening have seen weekly footfall jump back to 86% of the levels seen in 2019. What’s much more significant is the number of retailers reporting May 2021 sales information (a total of 14 days) being ahead of May 2019 (31 days). There is no question that retailers need to see a sustained period of brisk trade but the data so far is pointing in the right direction.
