Debenhams Store

A Knight of Ireland

Now that the country is starting to open, does anyone know what is the plan for the Debenhams store in the shopping centre? Maybe M&S will take it over and mirror the store in Liffey Valley

Larbre34

The plan? Lol

The next 2 or 3 years will see massive retail vacancies, getting worse before they get better.

We'll be doing well if M&S don't leave Ireland altogether, never mind expand.

One thing is for certain, that huge ex Debenhams unit will be an unholy pain in the Blanch owner's ass for a long time to come.

Zaph

Larbre34 wrote: »

One thing is for certain, that huge ex Debenhams unit will be an unholy pain in the Blanch owner's ass for a long time to come.

Yeah, the days of a large anchor department store are probably gone, but that unit isn't designed to be much else. There's loads of floorspace the further you go into the unit, but there's not enough mall frontage on either level to allow them to be split into multiple units with enough of a storefront to make them attractive to other businesses. The best they can hope for is getting a single tenant for each level, but that's a big ask as there won't be too many looking for units that big.

MAULBROOK

A Knight of Ireland wrote: »

Now that the country is starting to open, does anyone know what is the plan for the Debenhams store in the shopping centre? Maybe M&S will take it over and mirror the store in Liffey Valley

M&S are looking for redundancy's and are cost cutting everywhere.

blanch152

Zaph wrote: »

Yeah, the days of a large anchor department store are probably gone, but that unit isn't designed to be much else. There's loads of floorspace the further you go into the unit, but there's not enough mall frontage on either level to allow them to be split into multiple units with enough of a storefront to make them attractive to other businesses. The best they can hope for is getting a single tenant for each level, but that's a big ask as there won't be too many looking for units that big.

Heard Zara are looking into the top floor.

Give the queues outside it last week, there might be some merit.

Larbre34

Good news for middle aged men with a waist bigger than 28 everywhere.

ongarboy

Larbre34 wrote: »

Good news for middle aged men with a waist bigger than 28 everywhere.

Now I know why so many of them wear lycra!!!

billie1b

Rumour has it BT2 want it and have been wanting it the last few years

ongarboy

On a more serious note, Sports Direct have taken over the 4 floor Debenham store in Galway. As they carry a USC casual clothing and Brand Max clearance outlet as well as their huge sportswear offering, they could be in the running for one of the the floors at least. I know they have the old Heatons store in Westend too but like Lifestyle, maybe they can sustain two locations across Blanch?

crooked cockney villain

ongarboy wrote: »

On a more serious note, Sports Direct have taken over the 4 floor Debenham store in Galway. As they carry a USC casual clothing and Brand Max clearance outlet as well as their huge sportswear offering,

Would be very welcome. The upstairs in the Sports Direct in town (USC?) sells some top quality clobber, would make a great addition.

Wonder if Tommy Hilfiger will take a smaller unit? They seem to have a presence in every other large shopping centre now and have closed their town outlet (a shame, the town one I always found had the best range of all of them)

they could be in the running for one of the the floors at least. I know they have the old Heatons store in Westend too but like Lifestyle, maybe they can sustain two locations across Blanch?

Is Lifestyle in the retail park into its final days? Went today, the entire upstairs (which used to sell sports jerseys and had a large discount clearance section) is closed off, and the downstairs seems to have been stripped of half its railings, very sparse selection compared to before. Seems odd a shop in an area with plenty of foreigners has closed off its football jersey section on the eve of the Euros.

The unit in the centre sells feck all and always has, not really sure why they have it.

Was good to see the centre packed. No matter how much talking heads in the media bang on about the death of bricks and mortar, it's here to stay. People like getting out of the house, and the prices of branded clothes are simply a fraction of what you pay online with rip off merchants like Zalondo and ASOS (Nike store was all but giving away gear, 33% to 50% off the already discounted prices of pretty much everything. Same story in Champion Sport- you simply don't get Adidas tops online anywhere for 25 quid)

crooked cockney villain

Also, is the new JD outlet going ahead? Think it was on the brink of opening before Covid hit, is it still a goer? Can't imagine movement on it til at least September when it will be more clear if these clowns will put us in another lockdown (looks highly unlikely but you can never bet against how thick Mehole is)

Also, I saw construction workers outside Wetherspoons the other day, seemed to be some timber rubbish about as if they'd been stripping stuff out. Hardly closing is it?!

ongarboy

crooked cockney villain wrote: »

Also, I saw construction workers outside Wetherspoons the other day, seemed to be some timber rubbish about as if they'd been stripping stuff out. Hardly closing is it?!

Not sure but possibly just prepping or building a more weather proof outdoor area in advance of outdoor dining being allowed from June 7th? They have a fairly decent outdoor space in comparison to a lot of bars.

frankyboy1986

crooked cockney villain wrote: »

Also, is the new JD outlet going ahead? Think it was on the brink of opening before Covid hit, is it still a goer? Can't imagine movement on it til at least September when it will be more clear if these clowns will put us in another lockdown (looks highly unlikely but you can never bet against how thick Mehole is)

Also, I saw construction workers outside Wetherspoons the other day, seemed to be some timber rubbish about as if they'd been stripping stuff out. Hardly closing is it?!

I was told by an employee/former employee that the building sustained serious flood damage and that quite a bit of repair work is needed to get it upto scratch

crooked cockney villain

frankyboy1986 wrote: »

I was told by an employee/former employee that the building sustained serious flood damage and that quite a bit of repair work is needed to get it upto scratch

That explains it. Glad to hear it's not closing anyway, Covid has cost me enough already without the death of the 2.95 pint :pac:

re what I said about Lifestyle, I was in Liffey Valley today and their store there also seemed a bit more sparse than I remembered. Are they having supplier issues or something?

1800_Ladladlad

MAULBROOK wrote: »

M&S are looking for redundancy's and are cost cutting everywhere.

From what Iv been told by a family member that works there, the redundancies are being offered to staff that has worked there for 25+ years, etc Nothing has been mentioned to mine and they get their contracted full-time hours. I wouldn't be surprised if cuts do rear their heads. Hopefully, the store doesn't close. The kids clothing does outperform and sell better than the men's, women's clothing

Phil.x

crooked cockney villain wrote: »

Also, I saw construction workers outside Wetherspoons the other day, seemed to be some timber rubbish about as if they'd been stripping stuff out. Hardly closing is it?!

They are anti-European after all, so they could be finished.

crooked cockney villain

Phil.x wrote: »

They are anti-European after all, so they could be finished.

Could you blame them, with this government's Taliban attitude to alcohol, and fun in general.