RetailSector: With the opening of Ashbourne's fifth major supermarket, the big question is whether there's enough business to go around. Fiona Tyrrell reports.
The fast-growing retail sector in the commuter town of Ashbourne is to get another major shake-up with the opening early next week of a new Dunnes Stores, bringing to five the number of large supermarkets in the Co Meath town.
The opening of Dunnes Stores's 6,500sq m (70,000sq ft) premises on the Dardis & Dunns Seeds Ltd site close to the €200 million Ashbourne Town Centre is a sure sign that competition for south Meath's retail trade is set to intensify.
Dunnes Stores is going head-to-head once again with Tesco, which opened its 1,750sq m (18,800sq ft) premises in 2003 - also in Naus Investments' Ashbourne Town Centre scheme - and commenced 24-hour trading a year ago.
German discount stores Lidl and Aldi will also give Dunnes Stores a run for its money.
Lidl is already part of the tenant line-up for the town centre and has been trading since the middle of the summer from a 1,480sq m (16,000sq ft) store.
This week rival Aldi opened a similarly-sized unit later this year on a site at the entrance to the town. Meanwhile, SuperValu is anchor tenant at the old shopping centre, which was built in the early 1990s.
Dunnes Stores paid an estimated €5.7 million for the old Dardis & Dunns grain store in 2001 and Tesco will be paying attention to how well Dunnes Stores trades when it opens just in time for the Christmas trade.
Rumour has it that Tesco is dissatisfied with its location in the new town centre and is looking around for a new premise to lease.
The big question is whether there is enough business for all five supermarkets.
Indeed, can any town of Ashbourne's size have enough business for that many supermarkets?
Ashbourne has experienced significant population growth in recent years and there are an estimated 10,000 people now living in Ashbourne, with around 6,000 in Dunshaughlin and 5,000 in Ratoath, according to Frank Fitzmaurice, economic development officer with Meath County Council.
There is no doubt that the extension of the M50 and the availability of lots of free car-parking will make Ashbourne attractive to shoppers in the south Meath area.
However, it is likely that the big supermarket players are banking on even bigger population growth in the future.
Like many other areas in Meath, Ashbourne has large tracts of land rezoned for residential and thousands more houses could be coming down the line.
Meanwhile, Myles Croftons' Naus Investments is forging ahead with its ambitious town centre development. When complete, it will comprise a new main street, Killegland Street, running parallel to the old main street, with some 60 retail outlets, over 300 homes and a civic square.
The scheme is connected to the old main street by two roads, one adjacent to the new Dunnes Stores premises, and the other which links up to the Tesco end of the scheme. Over 1,000 car-parking spaces have been provided at the scheme to date.
Phase one and two at Ashbourne Town Centre are now complete and tenants include the large Jackie Skelly Fitness Centre with over 2,500sq m (26,910sq ft) of space, Adrian Dunne Pharmacy, O'Brien's Irish Sandwich Bar, Birthdays, Record Sleeves, O'Brien's Fine Wines, Movie Magic, Easons, McDonalds, Permanent TSB, Lifestyle Sports, and Shoes Own.
Joint agents Sherry FitzGerald and Bannon Commercial have recently secured new tenants, including West Coast Coffee, Subway, Carphone Warehouse, Cost and Cosy, Funky Feet and Sasha for phase two and are in discussions with two UK multiples for two large fashion outlets measuring around 7,000sq m (75,347sq ft).
Rents of €377-€430 per sq m (€35-€40 per sq ft) are being secured, according to the agents.
A major element of the scheme includes a new district council office and a public library of 1,400sq m (15,069sq ft). The library attracts between 300 and 500 people a day.
