Polonez hoping to fill last unit in Mill Retail Park
Polonez, a specialist retailer who stock foods of Polish origin, is hoping to occupy the last remaining unit in the Mill Retail Park off the Courtown Road.
Ian Doyle, planning consultant on behalf of Gorey Capital Ltd applied to Wexford County Council for change of use of unit five in the Retail Park in Mill Lands from comparison retail to convenience/specialist retail including alcohol sales.
The proposed retailer for the unit is Polonez.
In the planning application, Mr Doyle states unit five, which is the smallest unit within the retail park, is limited in size and shape making it unattractive for comparison retail use.
The owners of Mill Retail Park were granted permission in 2015 for the subdivision of the former Tesco building to create five units in total. The largest of the units remained convenience retail and is occupied by Iceland, while the newly created four units were permitted for comparison retailing.
Two of the units are occupied by Choice Homestore and Maxi Zoo while Costa Coffee is located in another unit.
Mr Doyle states in the application that 90 per cent of the stock retailed by Polonez is polish.
Polonez started in 2003 opening its first shop with Polish products in Naas town.
It was one of the first shops in Ireland providing Polish people with Polish food. The company currently has 29 shops located in Ireland.
Statistics show that 75 per cent of Polonez’s customers are Polish while the remaining 25 per cent are from Eastern Europe and some Irish.
Mr Doyle said the proposed change is in accordance with the provisions of the Gorey Local Area Plan and is tailored towards a defined specialists end user for the sale of ethnic goods.
As a result, it will not divert trade from existing food retailers in Gorey.