Shopping Centres: A new fashion mall and significant extra parking are pulling in the public to the extended Omni Park shopping centre in north Dublin. The €60 million refit at Omni Park now attracts more than 125,000 people per week.
UK fashion chain New Look is the anchor tenant in the new 7,300sq m (78,576sq ft) fashion mall.
The investment also added 750 car-parking spaces to the centre, essential if car-dependent customers are to reach the shops. This brings total retail space to about 43,000sq m (462,848sq ft).
Dedicated fashion malls are now common currency at shopping centres and Omni Park is no exception. The Blanchardstown Town Centre redeveloped after just nine years to include a fashion bias in its Red Mall and The Square in Tallaght also has a heavy weighting of retail space for fashion.
As if the Dundrum Town Centre in south Dublin wasn't large enough, it has also built and will shortly occupy a separate fashion mall below Harvey Nichols.
Omni Park was built 14 years ago and sits off the M1 between the city and Dublin Airport and now has 1,700 car-parking spaces.
It is owned by the McKeon and Kennedy families, and the centre has always traded strongly given the dense population immediately available to it, with almost half a million people living no more than 15 minutes drive away.
New outlets at the centre include Elvery Sports, Superdrug, Jean Scene, Change Lingerie, Hughes & Hughes, Costa Coffee, Kris Morton Hair Salon, L'Amour Ladies Ware, Destiny and Clippers Barbers.
Other retailers soon to open in the development include Jack & Jones, Vila, Vero Moda, Meteor, Exhibit, Pulse Accessories and Bank of Scotland.
Anchor tenant New Look already has nearly 20 stores in Ireland and occupies an 854sq m (9,192sq ft) unit in the new Omni Park extension.
Karl Stewart of DTZ Sherry Fitzgerald represented New Look in the letting negotiations.
Elvery's Sports has taken a 347sq m (3,735sq ft) unit and Superdrug has a 319sq m (3,434sq ft) pitch.
"The opening of the new facilities and the arrival of new shops has boosted business significantly at Omni," said George Ross of Jones Lang LaSalle who represents the centre with joint agents Mason Owen & Lyons.
The extra car-parking is available in an adjoining multi-level car park, says Mr Ross. "The overall result has been to attract more customers with a wider range of shopping opportunities in a highly convenient centre located in the midst of a highly populated part of north Dublin."
Fashion outlets now look for larger units these days, given changes in display and retailing practices.
The average new shop in Omni is about 190sq m (2,045sq ft) which rents for over €100,000 per annum.
Omni also houses one of Ireland's largest cinema complexes with an 11-screen multiplex able to seat 2,300 customers.
It sits on a huge site of about 23 acres. This gives it space to pursue further expansion if the need arises and given, the undoubted ongoing strength of the retail sector, this is a definite possibility.
