Abercrombie & Fitch targets city store

Fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch is opening one of its junior brand Hollister shops in Dundrum and planning to launch an A&F shop in the former Habitat store in the city centre

THE DECISION by the American fashion retailer Hollister to open a large store at Dundrum Town Centre comes as its parent brand Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F), is in advanced negotiations to launch its first Irish outlet directly opposite the Bank of Ireland on College Green in Dublin 2.

A&F has targeted the former Habitat building because of its prime location and its spacious floorplates. It has a retail floor area of 1,021sq m (10,990sq ft) over three floors and two other levels for offices and storage.

A store of this size near the bottom of Grafton Street could be expected to attract a rent of around €750,000 per annum.

The opening of an Abercrombie store at College Green would provide a much-needed boost for Grafton Street which has attracted a rash of unfavourable publicity over the past two years because many of its shops are over-rented and others are difficult to let due to a fall off in consumer spending.

If, as expected, the top-end American trader settles for College Green, it will be seen as a major coup for the city centre at a time when suburban shopping centres such as Dundrum and Blanchardstown have been attracting an increasing number of young shoppers primarily interested in fashion and lifestyle products.

Last Saturday another major US trader, Forever 21, opened its first European store at the Jervis Centre off Mary Street.

The extensive new outlet was mobbed over the weekend and, according to Larry Brennan, retail specialist with Savills, the arrival of Forever 21 could mark a turning point in trading patterns in the Henry/Mary Street area.

Businessman Paddy McKillen, the main shareholder in the Jervis Centre, is also a key investor in Clarendon Properties, owner of the former Habitat store, which has frontage onto Suffolk Street as well as College Green.

The area fronting on to Suffolk Street is occupied by fashion trader Cult which recently rented an extra 1,858sq m (2,000sq ft) to bring its overall floor area up to 1,300sq m (13,993sq ft). Savills is the letting agent for both the Jervis Centre and the former Bank of Ireland building at College Green

Abercrombie & Fitch specialises in “near luxury” casual wear for consumers aged between 18 and 22. It has for years used high grade materials and its prices are recognised as the highest in the youth clothing industry.

The company has 300 stores in the United States and has been expanding rapidly throughout the world.

The decision by A&F’s cheaper brand subsidiary Hollister to open its first Irish store at Dundrum next summer “confirms Dundrum’s position as the leading Irish shopping centre” according to Dominic Deeny of Chartered Land, one of the owners.

Hollister caters primarily for teenagers aged 14 to 18 and its prices are lower than its parent brand

Hollister is likely to be paying a rent of around €750,000 as well as 10 per cent of its turnover for the new store, which will extend to 814.4sq m (8,766sq ft).

The owners of Dundrum say that visitors to the shopping centre have continued to climb even through the recession of the last two years and exceeded 18 million in the past 12 months.

Hollister was founded in 2000 and now has over 500 stores worldwide. The first European outlet started trading in London in 2008. It plans to open a further 30 shops in the UK and possibly 200 more outlets across Europe.

Bannon and Savills are joint letting agents for Dundrum.