Donnybrook Fair to open new outlets in 2008

RetailMarket:Competition for market share in the luxury foods sector is set to increase sharply, writes Gretchen Friemann.

Donnybrook Fair's successful upmarket convenience store format - once the preserve of the well-heeled D4 set - will be expanded across Dublin next year with new outlets planned for the city centre and Greystones.

The Upper Baggot Street unit, which opened in April last year, will also double in size and there is speculation in the industry the cult epicurean brand is scheduling further growth as competition for market share in the luxury foods sector continues to increase.

While Donnybrook Fair's management team refused to comment on the expansion strategy, it is understood the new stores will be large-scale with retail sources suggesting the city centre outlet will be in the Harcourt Street area, possibly at the Park Place development.

In the affluent seaside suburb of Greystones, it is thought the D4 food emporium will trade opposite Tesco on the Kilcoole Road. According to one industry source, the site could be as large as 929sq m (10,000sq ft) to 1,115sq m (12,000sq ft), and will "act as a complementary retailer rather than as a competitor" to the UK supermarket giant.

The decision by Joe Doyle, a director of the ADM Londis group and proprietor of Donnybrook Fair, to export the upmarket brand to Greystones will confirm the area's transformation into a foodies' paradise. Earlier this year it emerged the much-loved speciality shop Cavistons was opening a second outlet in the coastal town's Main Street, which is also due to open some time next year.

Although Doyle, a veteran of the grocery industry, has owned Donnybrook Fair for over 15 years, the brand's expansion is a relatively recent development and began in late 2004 with the expansion and installation of a restaurant in the flagship store on Morehampton Road.

That was followed by the opening of the Upper Baggot Street outlet in the former Murphy's newsagents, which Doyle is believed to have acquired for €4 million. It is understood he has now attained the lease for the Dowlings wine bar unit next door, enabling him to significantly enlarge this second Donnybrook Fair.

According to industry sources, Doyle's growth plan is well timed.

Over the past few years a number of new entrants have moved into the market armed with aggressive expansion campaigns.

Fresh - the supermarket chain for cash-rich, time-poor consumers founded by Simon Kelly - plans to expand its network of stores to 20 by 2010, while Superquinn recently unveiled plans to open smaller format stores in the affluent suburbs of Ranelagh and Rathgar in the hope that its new "superior quality" product range will entice people away from leading brands such as Marks & Spencer's "simply food" and Donnybrook Fair.

The Fallon and Byrne New York-style food emporium on Exchequer Street is also contemplating expansion with its owners actively looking at potential properties. Fiona McHugh, the former editor of the Sunday Times and a partner in the business alongside her husband Paul Byrne and investor Brian Fallon, claimed "it would be stupid not to build on the brand's success" but maintained that any expansion would hinge on a property's location and appeal.

According to Stephen Murray of Jones Lang LaSalle, the upmarket food sector has become hugely popular in recent years as Irish consumers become more discerning. And he said developers are keen to secure well-established brands as they offer "a point of difference" to standard convenience stores.

Cormac Kennedy of CB Richard Ellis also pointed out that expansion in this sector is driven by the premium profit margin rather than volume.

While supermarkets, such as Tesco, operate a one-price system across the country, the speciality food shop can charge higher prices because "this type of shopping is all about the experience. Of course it's centred around the quality of the product but it's also about enjoying the ambience of the shop itself," says Kennedy.

Mervyn Ellis of HWBC is acting for Donnybrook Fair but was unable to comment on its growth strategy.