Lidl opens second store, restores mill
Lidl opened its second store in Sligo and at 1600sq metres, is one of its biggest, at Finisklin Road last Thursday morning.
The new store creates 25 jobs and was officially opened by Sligo Ladies GAA captain, Noelle Gormley.
As a gesture marking its opening, Lidl donated €1,000 to North West Hospice.
As part of the construction, Lidl incorporated restoration works of the Lyons Terrace Mill on the same site which was built in c.1837 and served Sligo port
It has been brought back to life after years of neglect and the new building will incorporate a restaurant in due course.
Lidl worked with a conservation architect to assist with the restoration with removal of paint works and restoring the stonework to its original state.
Connecting the mill building to the new Lidl store is a landscaped public area with raised landscaped planting beds built with reclaimed stone from the site itself.
The new store incorporates a range of strategies to reduce environmental impact. It is powered by green electricity and is certified to ISO50001 energy efficiency standards.
Over the next few weeks a solar photovoltaic system will be installed which will generate approximately 25% of the store s energy requirements.
The store also offers customers free use of a number of electric vehicle charging points.
The store opens from 8am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and 9am to 9pm on Sundays. There are 147 car parking spaces.
Rory Farrell, Store Manager said: ” We are delighted to open Lidl’s 158th store today in such a fantastic location.
“We wanted to bring a new state of the art store to the area while also complementing the community’s historical past. Restoring the Lyons Terrace Mill not only brings the site back to life, but also, brings it back to its original purpose which was to provide for the local community.
“We are really excited to get to know the local community. We have a new fantastic state of the art store packed full of fantastic products at market leading prices. On behalf of Lidl Ireland, we would like to thank the local community for their continued support throughout the build.”