RetailingLeading souvenir shop Carroll's Gifts is to trade out of one of Foot Locker's two stores on Grafton Street, writes Gretchen Friemann
Carroll's Gifts, one of Ireland's largest independent souvenir retailers, is set to trade on Grafton Street after it agreed to pay €850,000 for the leasehold interest on one of Foot Locker's shops.
The North American sporting giant acquired the 325sq m (3,498sq ft) unit, situated below Captain America's restaurant, when it purchased 11 of the Champion Sports Group's stores in 2004.
The overall rent on number 44 Grafton Street stands at €750,000 per annum. Around €100,000 of that is contributed by the long-established restaurant as it sublets 371sq m (4,000sq ft) on the upper floors of the property.
Agents claim Foot Locker's decision to run only one outlet on Dublin's premier shopping street is hardly surprising given the company offloaded one of its two Henry Street stores last autumn. But they also point out that the lucrative premium on offer would have been as much an incentive to move as the prospect of sharp rental increases.
Demand for space on Grafton Street has sent Zone A rents soaring to over €10,000 per sq m (€929 per sq ft) and culled the area of most of its indigenous retailers, precipitating what one media commentator labelled as a "slide into mediocrity".
However, Carroll's Gifts' entrance onto one of the world's most expensive shopping thoroughfares is likely to provoke further debate on the street's character and variety.
Planning restrictions aimed at reversing the consumer exodus to suburban shopping malls have just come into force in the area and Dublin City Council claims they will promote an "appropriate balance of higher order retail uses".
Although the new measures are primarily intended to rid the street of mobile phone shops and convenience stores, the local authority's guidelines list souvenir shops as a retailing grade that must be regulated. This means any new entrants onto the thoroughfare are required to seek planning permission before commencing trading.
It's not clear yet whether these new controls will impede Carroll's Gifts' move onto Grafton Street. According to Dublin City Council's Special Planning Control Scheme (SPCS) for the area, permission for souvenir shops is dependent upon factors such as "the number and proximity of similar" stores already in the vicinity and the "scale of the proposed outlet".
However, Tom Coffey of the Dublin City Business Organisation, an influential lobby group for local traders, described the gift shop chain's imminent arrival as a "welcome" and "uniquely Irish addition" to Grafton Street.
He claimed the thoroughfare's jaded image stemmed from its high number of mobile phone shops and convenience stores, and blamed the institutional landlords for allowing this situation to develop.
Under the SPCS, mobile phone shops and convenience stores are listed alongside off licences, supermarkets, fast food outlets and sex shops as traders that are now banned from acquiring space on the street.
But many agents argue the local authority's measures are misguided. Eoin Feeney of HWBC said the key problem with Grafton Street was its shortage of large scale shop units. "The focus should be on attracting quality retailers and the only way you can do that is by offering them what they want, which is decent sized outlets."
His comments tally with the views of the institutional landlords who recently made a joint submission to the council on the new planning guidelines. AIB Investment Managers, Bank of Ireland Asset Management, Friends First Life Assurance, Hibernian Investment Managers, Irish Life Investment Managers, IPUT and Treasury Holdings, the majority landowners on the street, stated that the new restrictions are "not necessary" and claimed the character and fabric of both the buildings and the public areas need to be upgraded and maintained.
Jones Lang LaSalle has been advising Foot Locker. However, the agency refused to confirm or deny whether any deal had been struck with Carroll's Gifts.
