‘We can’t wait to open,’ say retailers as they prepare to welcome customers again
But many stores are still unsure when shutters will come up after returns were fast-tracked
THE big focus is on bricks and mortar stores from next Monday. The biggest shift in opening dates is undoubtedly for the shopping centres whose fortunes changed massively, moving by almost two months, from phase five on August 10, and fast-forwarded to June 15.
In a statement to the Irish Independent, Dundrum Town Centre, the largest shopping centre in the country, said it “welcomed the update from the Government and is working towards the revised timelines”.
Fashion and lifestyle shoppers will find a wide diversity of shops coming on stream in the next few days.
Ireland’s biggest luxury store, Brown Thomas on Grafton Street, will reopen for business across four floors next Wednesday.
It was due to open five small-format stores that day but now it will open the entire store on Wednesday, in time for the launch of the Loewe X Paula’s Ibiza fashion and accessories collection.
Its three regional stores, in Cork, Limerick and Galway, will open for business the following day, Thursday, June 11.
The country’s oldest department store, Arnotts of Henry Street, was due to open with three small-format shops next Thursday, but this has now changed and the entire department store will open for business on Wednesday along with its sister store on Grafton Street, both part of the Selfridges Group owned by the Weston family.
The British chain M&S kept 17 food halls open during lockdown. Come next Monday, 15 stores selling fashion will be open.
There will be no toilets or restaurants, apart from the café offering takeaways, and there will be no changing rooms open.
A spokeswoman clarified that staff will manage the flow of customers in and out of all M&S stores to maintain social distancing, so there may be a queue.
M&S is keeping all closecontact services temporarily closed, including bra fittings, suit fittings and children’s footwear fittings.
Ikea, the homewares and home-furnishing retailer, experienced enormous queues when it reopened across Europe and Britain.
The shutters lift here next Monday when Ikea will reopen its store in Ballymun, north Dublin, and its order and collection point in Carrickmines, south Dublin.
In a statement that marks it out from other retailers reopening, Ikea said it will open from 10.30am-11.30am for the elderly, vulnerable and at-risk.
In Ballymun, it will open from 11.30am-8pm for the general public, with the car park open at 8am.
The Carrickmines store will open at the same time for the general public and close at 6pm.
No one needs to be reminded how popular gym and leisure wear was during the lockdown and there was a major demand for workout equipment and weights.
Life Style Sports will open six stores next Monday at 10am following an 84-day closure.
Life Style Sports is an independent, Irish-owned retail company, with 50 stores nationwide, and employs more than 700 people.
Next Monday it will lift the shutters on Dublin stores in Mary Street, Grafton Street, Blanchardstown Retail Park and Carrickmines.
It is also opening in Galway Retail Park and The Capitol, Cork.
The company has announced that additional stores will open on June 11, followed by all remaining stores on June 15.
Family owned Irish business the Kilkenny Group will open four stores next Monday at Stillorgan, Killarney, Ennis and Cashel.
Michelle O’Gorman, head of retail with the group, said the flagship store on Dublin’s Nassau Street will open on June 15 with a takeaway food service, and the restaurant in store will open two weeks later.
Also opening on June 15 are three stores in shopping centres such as Douglas, Whitewater and Pavilions in Swords. Its stores in Cork and Shanagarry will open on June 18.
Carraig Donn, the lifestyle brand that started out on the Aran Islands, says it will be opening nine stores next Monday in Castlebar, Westport, Sligo, Wexford, Tralee, Waterford, Ennis, Kilkenny, and Ballincollig.
After that, it will be rolling out the opening of its remaining 32 stores over the coming weeks, and in line with the revised guidelines, issued by the Government.
Louis Copeland menswear is opening five stores next Monday at 9am on Wicklow Street, Capel Street, Pembroke Street, Cork and Galway, while its store in Dundrum Town Centre will now open mid-month.
A lot of the British stores are not opening in the UK until the middle of the month, so that has affected when their Irish branches will open.
A case in point is The White Company which specialises in top-end home furnishings.
River Island and the H&M fashion chains don’t yet have dates for the reopening of stores here.
News that Primark was opening in the UK on June 15 opened a can of rumours.
However, a spokeswoman told the Irish Independent that the company was working through plans for reopening, but has not confirmed an official reopening date for Penneys in Ireland.
With regards to speculation on a possible website, she said: “From time to time, we have looked at click and collect as one possible option to extend our customer service.
“However, there are no plans in the near future to trial click and collect. Our focus is on reopening our stores and welcoming customers back once we are convinced that it is safe and right to do so.”
Kildare Village, the outdoor discount shopping destination in Kildare town, has not formally announced a restart date, but it is understood a tentative date of June 15 has been discussed.
TK Maxx, the popular lifestyle store with discounted labels, and its sister store Homesense, is keeping its cards close to its chest and was not able to supply information about reopening at the moment.
An appetite for books was one of the big surges during the lockdown, along with flour for baking.
Small local bookshops that remained open and did home deliveries within the 2km distance did well.
There was keen interest in when Eason would reopen its stores nationwide, but a spokeswoman did not wish to comment.
Avoca, the Irish food market, has been trading across five stores such as Ballsbridge, Rathcoole, Kilmacanoge, Monkstown and Dunboyne, but when asked when its full lifestyle stores would open, the response was “very soon”.
Paint was another big hit with lockdown consumers. The General Paints Group has announced it will open its MRCB store near Christchurch as well as all Colourtrend stores from next Monday.
David Casey, sales director of Casey Furniture in Cork and Limerick, said: “We are opening next Monday at 10.30am. We can’t wait to open. We have everything ready.”