UNTIL last November, most shoppers' experience of big name British retailers was limited to those already firmly ensconced in Ireland (Marks & Spencer being the most obvious), those that had initially fallen by the wayside (Bhs) and those encountered on shopping trips to Belfast.

With the opening of the Jervis Centre at the end of 1996, a host of British operators arrived in Dublin for the first time.

They include electronics giant Dixon's, the Debenhams department store and, most notably, Boots, which announced that the Jervis Centre store was to be the first in a chain of stores in Ireland.

When Dorothy Perkins, Burton and an Argos outlet were added into the equation, it seemed that the 330,000-square-feet of retail space in the Jervis Centre was about to become a beach-head for a new British retail invasion of these shores.

According to Michael Biddle of London-based property consultants and chartered surveyors Angerman, Goddard and Lloyd, which has represented Tesco, Boots and Sainsbury's, UK retailers are attracted to the Irish market because of the economic growth the country is enjoying and the increased spending power of consumers," he says.

"There is also the dearth of new opportunities in the UK. The new planning laws and restrictions in the UK are such that the number of new opportunities is quite small. Any expansionist retailer is looking at take-over propositions or the offshore market."

The Square in Tallaght, which won a number of awards for its design, also highlighted the quality of some of the new Irish shopping schemes, according to Mr Biddle, and heightened the awareness of British retailers.

Yet for every British success story in Ireland - epitomised by Marks & Spencer and crowned by the company's takeover of the Brown Thomas store last year - the shadows of other high-profile British casualties of the past hang over new British retailers in Ireland.

It is interesting to note that Bhs and Burton's, both of which closed Dublin operations in the 1980s, are back for a second try, both of them in the Jervis Centre.

The average shelf-life of a British retail company in Ireland is 12 years and, given that about 80 per cent of retailing changes over every 10-year period, some casualties are inevitable.

"The British are coming into an environment that is not similar to the UK," says Tom Coffey, chief executive of Dublin City Centre Business Association. "The retailers from the UK who understand that they are coming into a different country are doing best." It is generally agreed the strong performers include Marks & Spencer and, among the new arrivals, Boots and Debenhams in particular.

Boots now has four stores in Dublin, all of them in large shopping centres - Jervis Centre, Tallaght, Bloomfields in Dun Laoghaire and the Blanchardstown Town Centre.

The company is continuing its UK expansion - 40 new stores are expected to open annually over the next five years - but its move into the Irish market is part of a major international expansion of the company which includes the opening of stores in the Netherlands, Japan and Thailand.

"It's an indication that major retailers are going international and Ireland is an obvious choice in terms of simplicity and transferability," says Simon Halliday, manager of the Boots store in the Jervis Centre. "There's already a brand awareness here and there are also the fantastic economic conditions in the country. It's a number of factors, really.

The company is pleased with the response it has received from the Irish market in its first six months of operation. "So far, the first three are performing better than expected," says Mr Halliday. "All are performing above our budgets. It gives us a great deal of confidence but what we've done so far is also focused on getting ourselves established, establishing the brand here and learning from what has and hasn't done well."

THE healthcare side of the business has performed considerably better than expected, according to Mr Halliday and, as anticipated, beauty and toiletries are selling well.

The only limitations on Boots' Irish operation appear to be space the difficulty in finding premises large enough to take the company's full range and the slow process of licensing Boots' pharmaceutical products in this country.

The first batch of pharmaceuticals are currently going through the Irish Medicine Board's licensing procedure and Boots anticipates that the first of its own brand pharmaceuticals will go on sale in Ireland by the end of the year.

But all of the British retailers are operating in a very different market from the UK and Europe. According to figures published by the Marketing Society in its Irish Consumer Market study, 35 per cent of Ireland's population is aged 19 or lower; the EU average is 24.5 per cent. In Ireland, the average household numbers 3.6 people; once again, the EU average is lower, at 2.4 people. Finally, the average income per head in Ireland, despite our booming economy, is 28 per cent lower than the EU average.

"One of the things that comes out of this is that, in Europe, more people are living in apartments or on their own. There are more households," says Mr Coffey. "In Ireland, there are fewer house-holds and more people in each so, in retailing, you sell less."

The greater Dublin area accounts for 31 per cent of all retail turnover in the country, and, in the last two years, retail square footage in the greater Dublin area has increased by 23 per cent.

ACCORDING to Mr Coffey, at least a further 500,000 square feet will be added over the next 20 months: 250,000 at the new Arnott's Centre currently under construction at Middle Abbey Street and a further 250,000 in Quarryvale.

The opening of the Jervis Centre marked one of the most high-profile additions to Dublin's increasing retail square footage. Its effect on other retailers in the greater Dublin area has been a drop of about five per cent in their business, although most have responded bullishly to the competition.

"What we now have in Dublin is the reality of competition, as opposed to the hype of competition," says Mr Coffey.

What the new British retailers have also done, apart from providing a greater choice of products, is to make Irish consumers increasingly aware of the high standards of quality, choice and presentation which they can now expect.

"The standard which was acceptable in 1980 is now less than satisfactory," notes Mr Coffey.

Some Irish retailers have responded to the challenge, or were already responding before the Jervis Centre opened - witness the refurbishment of Arnott's in Henry Street/ Liffey Street; the redesign of F.X. Kelly's men's shop on Grafton Street; and the layout of the Hibernian Way mall.

Elsewhere, others are having a difficult time. "Lots of people are finding it tough - British, Irish and other nationals," says Mr Coffey.

"At the end of the day, it's the customer who decides."