`Old City' may help to reinvent retail reputation

The official unveiling of Dublin's "Old City" not only marked a new era for Temple Bar as a fully developed entity but also a fresh opportunity to salvage its reputation from retail limbo.

The success of the stylish new shopping district, centred around the newly constructed Cow's Lane which links Lord Edward Street and Essex Street, may depend on a sea change in the current perception of the area as a nightlife mecca.

After 10 years of redevelopment, the "Old City" revamp is the grand finale, launching Temple Bar as a fully developed cultural, residential and commercial quarter.

There are 24 retail and media units in the district which spans Essex Street West, Cow's Lane, Exchange Street Upper and Fishamble Street. According to Temple Bar Properties' General Manager Tambra Dillon, most of the retailers "share a common point of view, that of high end fashion, design and interiors.

"By capitalising on the synergy and expansion of a particular industry, the aim is to establish the "Old City" as a retail destination for high end design products and services." The units range in size from 320 sq ft to 1,600 sq ft and first tenants include fashion designer Cuan Hanley, Jimmy White's The Bakery and Garrett O'Hagan's Kitchenhaus and Lighthaus. None have paid key money and most have 20-year leases costing about £20 to £27 per sq ft, with tax incentives for those signed up before the end of 1999.

Some are reporting a sluggish start to sales. Jennifer Ffrench who runs tropical plant store, Elite Earth, has been on Cow's Lane for seven months.

"I've been here since the point where it was a real building site. When there is construction activity on the street people naturally assume they can't walk down it. From that aspect it has been quite slow but as more people have moved in I have noticed quite a difference."

Fashion designer Claire Garvey, also on Cow's Lane, says that trade is "picking up" as people are getting to know the street. "I have only been here two weeks but the front of the shop is looking on to the street which helps. I am paying pretty much the same rent as I paid for a workshop on Wicklow Street."

Many have been watching the performance of US company Urban Outfitters who moved on to Fownes Street before Christmas. Only the second of the chain's stores located outside North America, it is a 14,000 sq ft one stop lifestyle shop located in Cecilia House that carries clothes, records, accessories, kitsch gifts and housewares. The company is believed to be paying a staggered rent which will rise to £380,000 after five years. According to assistant manager Paul Cleary, the store had "a blinder of a Christmas" partly as a result of the hype that preceded its opening. "We were lucky in so far as people were waiting for the store to come over,"

The initial flurry of interest was followed by "a reasonably slow January but we are optimistic about how things are going". He believes that there is "a way to go" before people fully accept Temple Bar as a retail area. "I don't think there has been a major retail trader in the area before us. It has been mainly small niche shops. But since the demise of Grafton Street and its transformation into an English high street, people are looking for a niche shopping area."

The area's track record as a retail flop was partly, he believes, because it had "no major crowd puller".

"A lot of the shops have been tourist-related up to now with few offering stuff to the indigenous Dublin people. That has changed and it's also moving away from its reputation as a student haunt."

According to Tambra Dillon, the "Old City" has a head start because many of the retailers are also involved in the wholesale market "and are able to utilise the retail space as both showroom and shop".