Blanchardstown Centre - history of tenants

ongarboy wrote: »

Yeah, Dunnes are doing an upgrade of their flagship stores. Stephens Green, Cornelscourt, Rathmines and Henry St already had their makeovers. Glad to see Blanch getting done too!

The one in corrnelscount is very nice

DoozerT6 wrote: »

The Tony Quinn kiosk - I only noticed last weekend that it was gone. It'd been there years! I only ever saw two people working there, the aforementioned woman and a guy with a grey moustache. They must have worked all the hours there. Would be pushed to remember ever seeing a customer in there either.

Anybody got any ideas when Krispy Kreme is meant to open?

October, sometime

You would think someone poured water on Rituals after midnight at this stage the are popping up and out everywhere

I see name it and the JD sports beside it are both closed down

'Ran out of money' is an understatement tbf, didn't the finance chief rob loads of money from them?

Wow the inside of the centre on the bottom floor is going to be like a ghost-town...

ongarboy wrote: »

I was in the centre Thursday evening for the first time since before Christmas and the upper floor between Burtons and Zara is very empty with about 4/5 vacant units. You wonder why they have all these planning permissions submitted to expand the centre, add kiosks etc if existing units can't be filled.

I say has to with high rent., With all the vacancy. The kiosk less renting space.

Sounds like the landlords cutting off their noses to spite their faces then. Hiking up a rent that a tenant cannot afford, tenant vacates and unit lies empty indefinitely. One of those units has been empty for a couple of years apart from an EZ Living pop up shop in it for a short while. Unless as Murray says, the landlords may be targeting a large retailer by amalgamating the units so are proactively getting rid of the individual tenants. I'm trying to think of what large retailer does not have a presence in Blanch already (maybe H&M would relocate with a new Mens section). Massimo Dutti or Hollister are others I suppose.

ciaran76 wrote: »

With the Debenhams news today be very interesting to see who takes their place. Huge amount of space there.

Tesco be nice

Then you have all the grocery with Iceland 5 minutes away

LorelaiG wrote: »

Tesco would be amazing, do you think Dunnes and now Aldi would allow it though? Imagine grocery on the bottom floor and everything else on the second floor like Roches Stores used to have.

Well Dunnes let Aldi (I think Dunnes own their unit so have some power
Plus if American owners are like the ones who football clubs, then they wont let stuff get in the way of making money

The new Tesco in Liffey Valley has a costa and I think they where taking over the old Debenhams cafe

Also pleny of room for Tesco Mobile, Vision Express, Costa Coffee, Holland & Barrett etc as in liffey valley

Be nice a nice layout, their clothes are good, cheap and fit larger people :cool:

It would be great to see Marks and Spencer take over the Debenhams unit.
Food on ground floor and clothing etc upstairs.

M&S are not in the best state financially - but they could probably get more business with a slightly bigger store at least there; when life returns to normal

I don't think you're having the conversation on the level of impact in the sector.

There may not be an M&S left to take over the former Debenhams unit after all this.

Last year they made just 37 million stg on revenues of 11 Billion. They are paying the costs of 1,500 stores and 80,000 staff around the world and they haven't sold so much as a pair of knickers in most of those stores in a month. Yes their food halls remain open but hardly at the target level of a global economy crashing through the floor like never seen before.

Thats only one example. Boots aren't shifting anything except drugs and essentials, no one needs makeup, suncream, fake tan, or a million other luxuries.

The only retailers pretty well assured to come out of this alive are the grocery multiples - and even then only the ones who run a tight ship. In the UK for instance , the likes of Waitrose may get dragged down by its John Lewis arm.

There are quite possibly stores you've known your whole life you will never walk into again.

Larbre34 wrote: »

And how is a boon in online sales supposed to motivate company boards and shareholders to invest in bricks and mortar, or even to maintain existing footprint?

I am not sure there can be said to be a boom in online sales. Many companies have shut their online stores and those that are operating are doing so with severe social distancing restrictions. Less people in the warehouse trying to keep up. There also seems to be a change in what people are ordering (fashion well down, necessaries way up). Lots of small items.

While there will be a recession when restrictions are lifted, I am not sure online has gained a foothold that was not there before.

jimmyrustle wrote: »

Absolutely. Only time I've bought online is when

a- something has jumped out at me via an ad that I just can't see myself finding in a local store (80's Casual Classics have some lovely clobber of that type, for one rare example)

b- a jacket I've fancied in store but didn't have my size so I hunt down the right one online

Aside from that I wouldn't touch it.

Fairly similar myself, always like to see clothes before I wear them. What was useful in Debenhams was the in-store facility to order online, so if you tried something on for size but they didn't have the colour you liked, you could order it.

miamee wrote: »

The Chinese Traditional Medicine place appears to have closed - the outside of it is completely boarded up, shop name no longer visible etc. Not sure how long it's been like that, only noticed when heading to Gleesons the other day.

Considering a lot of stores had their premises locked up and unlit for months, it would be hard to know what's still in business or not when they get the official nod to reopen.