The American health food brand GNC is to open its 16th Irish store at 21 Henry Street, Dublin 1, where it will be paying a rent of €210,000 per annum. The shop was one of four adjoining outlets along with another premises in the GPO Arcade bought by Irish Life two years ago as part of the Capital Collection for over €30 million.
GNC’s new shop has a ground-floor retail area of 91sq m (979sq ft) and a total of 331sq m (3,562sq ft) over four floors.
With the four adjoining buildings under its control, Irish Life may well opt to amalgamate them at some future date to accommodate international traders looking for a large store. To facilitate such a arrangement, GNC’s new 10-year lease includes a rolling break option for the landlord after year five.
Daniel McLaughlin of Bannon, who handled the lease for Irish Life, said the letting demonstrated the recovery in rents on Henry Street.
