After pulling the shutters down on its original Grafton Street store in January 2020 citing the potential impact of the increased rent being sought by its landlord, Irish Life, Ecco Ireland is gearing up for a return to the city’s foremost shopping street.
Having sidestepped the very real damage done to bricks-and-mortar retail by the arrival shortly afterwards of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Danish-Irish shoe company is to set up shop in the former premises of Carphone Warehouse.
The deal, which was negotiated on Ecco’s behalf by Neil Delmar of agent JLL will see the retailer occupy the ground floor and basement of No 30 Grafton Street by way of a sub-lease for the remainder of Carphone Warehouse’s lease agreement which expires in 2028.
While the agent declined to comment further on the matter, The Irish Times understands that Ecco has agreed to pay a rent of about €260,000 per annum for the 1,600sq ft space. The upper floors of No 30 have been sub-let separately.
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Although Ecco’s new rent is some €50,000 more than the €210,000 it had been paying for its original Grafton Street shop, its new premises are larger. The payment agreed for No 30 is also less than the sum Ecco claimed Irish Life had been seeking as part of the rent review for its former premises in 2020.
Senior staff at the retailer were told at the time by Ecco that Irish Life was looking to increase the rent by as much as 70 per cent as part of the process. The staff were also told that while Ecco wanted to continue rent the store, the company was unwilling to match what Irish Life was seeking.
Irish Life insisted for its part that the rent being offered by Ecco was “below market rates” and that the decision to leave was Ecco’s alone.
Ecco Ireland is a 50-50 joint venture between its managing director, Cork businessman Paul Lyons, and a Dutch entity owned by the Ecco shoe manufacturer, which was originally founded in Copenhagen.
As well as its retail outlets, Ecco Ireland is also the wholesaler of Ecco shoes for the island of Ireland, supplying an estimated 250 other retailers.
