Brown Thomas has been forced to postpone the start of its winter sale at its flagship store on Dublin’s Grafton St after the three floors of the shop were flooded over night.
The flooding has caused significant damage and crews are on site this morning trying to block off the worst affected areas of the store and to re-orientate displays to allow it to open for business tomorrow.
Management at the store, which had been due to open at 9am today, were alerted to the problem at 4.30am. As much as 25 per cent of the shop flooded after a water sprinkler system malfunctioned early this morning.
The flooding happened at the rear of the store and a spokeswoman said it was too early to say how much damage had been done to sale stock.
She expressed optimism that the store would be able to re-open tomorrow morning although floor space is expected to be substantially reduced as a result of the flooding.
Sales at the department store’s branches in Cork, Galway and Limerick have all got underway as planned.
Retailers across the country are hoping for a bumper sales period after a “perfect storm” of grim news from the bailout, the Budget and the bad weather meant an anticipated December consumer spree never materialised.
Many of the State’s biggest retailers have opened their doors today.
The Dundrum Town Centre sale started at 10am with the majority of the shops, including House of Fraser and Harvey Nichols, open for business.
The Clery’s sale has also started while on the other side of Dublin’s O’Connell Street at Arnotts, X-Factor contestant Mary Byrne officially opened the sale with a performance which began at 9.30am.
Debenhams in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Kildare have all started their sales.
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