Arcadia group collapse.

The "rents are too high" argument is long gone out the window.

If it was just rents, a CVA (UK) or Examinership here would change rents of landlords didn't budge and with most shopping centres at 95%+ occupancy, its definitely not rents that were the problem with arcadia.

they were simply boring old sh1te shops with overpriced tat that people didn't want.

the good retailers understand that "fashion" retail names last no more than 15 or so years and change formats or create new formats - the Zara group is an example as is the Bestseller group (Jack & Jones, Vero Moda, Only, Twenty1, MandM direct and others).

Arcadia's brands were dead, boring, stale, putrid. - "Burtons", "Dorothy Perkins" "Wallis" "Evans" - names your granny shopped with when she was young.

Poorly run retail - never ending sales, boring shops & overpriced tat just like debenhams.

sbsquarepants wrote: »

Am i the only one who fails to give a shít about these things? Companies close, companies open, life goes on. Who really gives a rats arse? If you've lost your job in top shop, you need to go look for another one somewhere else, simple as. It's a pain in the hole, especially at this time of year, but hey ho.



Grafton street won't lie empty for long, people seem to have an insatiable thirst for over priced crap they don't really need. Someone will fill those empty units with some other god awfull pile of shíte and people will line up to buy that instead.

Precisely.

I suspect that there are retailers queuing up for most of the better sites already.

Next have developed a department store concept - they were meant to be taking at least three of the Irish debenhams stores, but the ongoing union action stopped that proceeding.


Flannels Department stores (sports direct) are looking for stores.


TK Maxx are looking for stores.


JD sports are looking for extra large stores


I reckon that most Arcadia and debenhams stores will be trading again within 9-10 months with a mix of above.

pjproby wrote: »

T K Maxx have a brand new unit in Liffey Valley, it looks ready to open. They are not going to take Arcadia's units there

I was generalizing about the number of immediate potential retailers that are looking for large units in the UK and here.

Next, JD and Flannels are very active looking for locations.

TK Maxx probably less so as they have many areas already covered.

L1011 wrote: »

Arcadia left Liffey Valley in a huff about three years ago... with the exception of a single Wallis store

Burtons, Topshop/Man, Evans, Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins all out.

I haven't been in Liffey Valley for a few years, but I would assume that all those units are occupied by other retail stores now.

Same in blanchardstown where they also left.

Darc19 wrote: »

I haven't been in Liffey Valley for a few years, but I would assume that all those units are occupied by other retail stores now.

Same in blanchardstown where they also left.

In Blanchardstown they huffed and puffed about leaving but came to a deal to keep the bulk of the units. Nearly all in a row, same as Liffey Valley was.

McGinniesta wrote: »

This is the start of it now.

Economic devastation

This group was on life support for many years.

Badly run, never moved with the times, boring stores, overpriced.

Even if covid did not exists, it would not have survived much longer.



Retail will thrive.

The shops that are being put into administration here under the Arcadia group are not part of my price range. I have never browsed or bought anything in them before however I do feel sympathy for the staff who have feelings that they could face a tough outlook with them being on the dole queue after Christmas.

Whatever arrangements on paying rents are in place after Christmas; the rents on all of the units affected by the Arcadia news in Grafton St & elsewhere would probably need to see some drastic action in place in how they can ultimately get the bills paid when they have just re-opened their businesses to consumers in the lead up to Christmas. While we live in a country that has a high cost of living; I would say that the bills being paid for those units relate to what they cover in heat & electricity costs which also relate to the size of the unit & their attractiveness in the location where they have their business, particularly in Grafton St, & also relate to the cost of the products sold within the units to their customers.

The high-end retailers on Grafton St need a lot of money from customers to cover their bills to pay the landlords as a way of running their business. However a pandemic like Covid-19 is making them go into a lot of financial peril within a short period of time as a lot of the landlords are currently trying to reassess their situation mainly because they did not expect a worldwide pandemic to hit countries around the globe including Ireland so quickly. Everyone is obviously suffering in different ways because of how Covid-19 it's inflicting it's pain across the world even when they have the virus or not. A lot of these landlords probably own the units outright or lease them via the banks in which they would have to cover important financial obligations as a way of running the business properly to try & keep their heads above water in the eyes of those institutions. What I am suggesting here is that landlords counts as an important investment in their business models.

And if they don't have that obligation covered by paying the bills to these institutions. They are fundamentally in big trouble.