Local shopping areas are facing challenges

Brexit and sterling having impact in Drogheda says retail study

DROGHEDA’S shopping experience is facing major challenges, after new research from Retail Excellence Ireland pinpointed problem areas within the town.

The review was based on feedback regarding scheme performance from multiple tenants, however scheme owners were not consulted in the course of conducting the review.

The report was based on feedback from tenants on topics covering everything from profitability to rental prices.

The widescale survey included 220 shopping centre tenants that operate a combined total of 650 stores.

Based on the feedback from tenants, the Laurence Town Centre was deemed to be ‘significantly unhealthy’ in its overall performance scoring just 1.89 out of a possible 10 in the survey. The next lowest score was the Ilac shopping centre in Dublin City Centre which scored 3.35.

Scotch Hall Shopping Centre was one of 11 shopping centres nationwide deemed to be ‘unhealthy’ scoring 4.45 for overall performance.

For store profitability, Scotch Hall was the lowest scoring centre at 1.99 with the Laurence Town Centre scoring 3.02.

There was bad news, too, for out of town shopping centres as a number of retail parks in Louth scored badly in a separate survey on retail parks also conducted by Retail Excellence Ireland.

Overall, the report revealed a mixed performance for shopping centres and retail parks across the country with Dublin and Cork performing well while the border counties are struggling.

Head of Public Affairs and Communications with Retail Excellence, Lorraine Higgins attributed the poor performance of the Laurence Town Cetnre in part to the drop in the price of sterling.

‘On the other hand 12 Centres were deemed unhealthy with The Laurence Centre, Drogheda rating the least healthy in the country which is probably experiencing a degree of performance negativity as a consequence of Brexit and sterling devaluation,’ she said, adding the timing of the launch of this scheme was also poor.’

OF the retail parks surveyed, the Drogheda Parks scored worst and Ms Higgins said this was again indicative of the fact that Brexit and consequential sterling devaluation is having a negative impact on their performance.

‘ This is firmly in line with our quarterly trading reports compiled in conjunction with Grant Thornton which have shown the industry to be experiencing three successive quarters of decline. The Brexit factor and a dip in consumer sentiment are the main culprits,’ she said.