AN ARBITRATOR has awarded an 18 per cent increase in the rent on the Bus Stop newsagency at the top of Dublin’s Grafton Street even though rents for many other small shops on the street have fallen by up to 50 per cent.
The award is understood to have been prompted by the recent increase of 10 per cent in the rent on the nearby Monsoon store at the junction of Chatham Street and the agreement of a rent averaging €226,000 and rising to €250,000 for the Bagel Factory outlet next to Bus Stop.
The arbitrator, Manus Agnew, ruled that the Bus Stop rent should be increased from €225,000 to €266,500 per annum, backdated to February 2009. The shop is one of the smallest on the street having 41.8sq m (450sq ft) at street level and about the same in the basement. The lease has another five years to run.
A two-tier rent structure has developed on Grafton Street with large stores such as BT2, HMV and River Island still attracting top rents while small units can be leased at around half the going rate. The fall in consumer spending has led to the closure of several small shops on the street in recent months.
One of the owners of the Bus Stop building, Michael Enoch, is also landlord of the Monsoon store which he bought for around €16 million at the end of 2003. He also owns the Butler’s Chocolates outlet in Grafton Street.
The Bus Stop chain of newsagents is run by businessmen Pierce Malony and Aidan Masterson. They were represented at the arbitration hearing by Hugh Markey of Lisney while Des Byrne of Bannon Commercial advised Enoch and his co-owner Max Abrahamson.
