AS SHOCKWAVES from the property and banking crashes continue to reverberate across Irish society, the collateral damage crops up in unexpected places. Institutions which might once have seemed indestructible are suddenly caught up in the storm. The disclosure that the State’s largest department store, Arnotts, is to come under the joint control of the nationalised Anglo Irish Bank and Ulster Bank is another example of how apparently solid businesses can prove in retrospect to have been fatally undermined by the hubris of the late boom years and the illusions of the property bubble.
The grandiose €750 million, 5.5 acre “Northern Quarter” proposed by Arnotts shareholders, with the two banks’ backing, can now be seen in hindsight as one part of that hubris. If built, this project would have fundamentally changed the fabric of north inner Dublin. If successful, it might have contributed to the O’Connell Street area’s future regeneration. But, given what we now know about the oversupply of retail and residential developments around the State – unnecessary shopping centres, unwanted hotels – this seems unlikely.
Henry Street is the State’s busiest shopping street, and Arnotts is the street’s single most important retail name. For generations of families, Arnotts has been associated with life’s landmark rituals: from school uniforms to bed linen; furniture to wedding gifts. More recently, the store has moved with the times by relying more on franchises and major international brands, but has still managed to retain a recognisable identity and lineage. The boom years may have seen the homogenisation or, indeed, the Anglicisation of Irish shopping as familiar indigenous names were replaced by British or multinational multiples. But Arnotts has retained a special place in the affections of Irish shoppers.
With the previous shareholders reduced to a nominal stake of one per cent in the company, Arnotts is now effectively in the hands of two banks whose overriding imperative must be to realise the maximum possible return, ideally in the shortest possible timeframe. If they come to the conclusion that this involves selling the store to an international chain, there is little doubt that they will attempt to do so. It is to be hoped that this does not happen, for the sake of both long-serving staff and loyal customers. But if it does, an almost 200-year-old fragment of national individuality will disappear, another casualty of the poisonous legacy left behind by the excess of the boom years.