Café culture, gyms muscle into urban Ireland as most retailers feel the chill
GYMS have muscled into the commercial property mainstream amid a rising vacancy rate, new analysis has found.
Nationwide, the number of retail and wholesaling premises slumped by 1,400 last year to barely 38,000.
Cutting against that grain was growth over the past decade in gyms, cafés, and firms dedicated to beauty and grooming – in some urban areas even at the expense of pubs.
The report said this reflected the appeal of “café culture” and “a growing preoccupation with health, fitness and well-being”.
The number of cafés has risen by 58pc over the past decade to 1,990 in urban areas. Fitness and gym operators had traditionally opted, or been priced, into secondary and industrial commercial space, but now increasingly compete with retailers.
Our cities and towns now have 831 gyms, close to triple the level in 2010. Greater Dublin
leads the way with 522, up 172pc; Cork has 142, up 158pc.
Urbanites have 22pc more beauty and grooming firms, at 4,721. Dublin’s options have grown by 35pc, Limerick’s by just 9pc.
Property database firm GeoDirectory said Co Sligo has the top rate of empty commercial space, 18.9pc, while Co Meath is lowest on 10.1pc. Edenderry, Co Offaly, has the most vacant space of any town, at 29.1pc.
The study shows occupancy rates rising in greater Dublin as well as the cities of Cork and Galway, but declining in many smaller towns and rural areas.
GeoDirectory CEO Dara Keogh said the data reflects “a deepening divide between the east and west of the country in economic activity, and this trend is showing no signs of slowing down”.
The report said 13.3pc of 211,529 commercial units were empty at the end of 2019, marginally higher than a year ago.
Annette Hughes, director of EY-DKM Economic Advisory, said the State’s “persistently high” vacancy rates are “difficult to reconcile with the strong economic recovery”. She noted that one third of all commercial premises were located in and around Dublin. Adding Cork and Galway takes the share to half of all units nationwide. Meanwhile, 16 counties saw vacancies rise.
“This suggests that economic activity is concentrated in a small number of counties,” she said. “Ever-increasing levels of internet shopping may be contributing to high commercial vacancy rates in many towns.”
GeoDirectory found falling occupancies in all commercial sectors except education.
The number of occupied industrial premises fell by more than 300 to nearly 8,700.
Premises providing services – including hotels, restaurants, bars, and scientific and technical services – fell by more than 2,000 to 79,000.