Trading places on Grafton Street

Relocation of Richard Alan store will reduce overheads after sharp increase in rents put a strain on fashion group’s finances

THE LONG-ESTABLISHED Richard Alan fashion business on Dublin’s Grafton Street is to be relocated to the lower ground floor of its sister company Pamela Scott on the same street.

The move is designed to reduce significant overheads and allow the Barron family’s Flairline fashion company “to make better use of its resources”.

Rents on Grafton Street shot up during the boom years, pushing many traders into the red and forcing others out of business. In 2005, the rent on the Richard Alan store increased from €240,000 to €750,000 – a jump of 212 per cent.

Scott Barron of Flairline said this meant that with a high rates bill their cost base went up to about €850,000 even before stock, wages, insurance and other overheads were factored in.

“This, along with the economic downturn, has proven to be a heavy drain on group finances,” he said.

He said they had no doubt that the relocation of the business to the Pamela Scott store would be a positive step forward for the company, their staff and customers. He has ruled out any redundancies as part of the new arrangement which gets under way on March 8th.

Because of the excessive overheads, Flairline has been in negotiations over a three-year period with the owners of the Richard Alan building with view to surrendering the lease.

The retailer was eventually allowed to walk away from the lease from next month after paying all rents and rates due up to that date.

Architects Lambe Tyndall are designing a new layout for the lower ground floor at Pamela Scott, which will have a high quality, contemporary finish.

The original Richard Alan store opened on Grafton Street in 1935 and was taken over by the Barron family in 2000.

Once it moves to the Pamela Scott premises, the business plans to launch several new brands including Jessica Simpson, Goat, Kathy Hilton and Essentiel Antwerp alongside existing lines such as Escada and Marc Cain. There will also be an extensive department carrying all the Jaeger collections.

A relocation sale gets under way tomorrow in the existing premises with discounts of up to 70 per cent.

Flairline’s founder Sean Barron opened the original Pamela Scott store on Grafton Street in 1976. He remains the company’s driving force and along with sons John, Richard, Robert and Scott. The company operates 27 stores under the Ashley Reeves and Lisa Perkins brandings as well as Pamela Scott and Richard Alan.

The Richard Alan store and the adjoining premises Zerup were acquired around 2006 by property developer Bernard McNamara with the intention of amalgamating them. Planning permission has since come through to merge the buildings but both premises are now in receivership.

Towards the end of 2008 McNamara dropped plans to sell the two stores after failing to attract a satisfactory offer. There was a price tag of €30 million on the Richard Alan building, while Zerup had been expected to sell for around €12 million.