WITH MOST high streets and shopping centres still finding the going tough because of the fall off in consumer spending, a discount shopping village on the outskirts of Kildare town has achieved something of a recession miracle by attracting substantially more visitors and significantly higher spending.
Though the latest CSO Irish retail index figures are continuing to show a slippage in the volume and value of retail sales, Kildare Village is bucking the trend with double-digit growth in sales this year. Its promoters say that shoppers are taking advantage of the discounts at the fashion destination.
According to Maria McGovern, retail and marketing director of the village, the number of visitors this year is heading for 1.8 million, an increase of 400,000 on the 2008 figure. “Kildare Village attracts discerning and affluent customers who are accustomed to shopping in London, New York and Paris. In fact, just over 60 per cent of our visitors have shopped in US outlets.”
When the village first opened for business in July 2006, it had only 14 fashion traders. There are now 51 designer outlet boutiques selling the previous season’s brands at discounts of up to 60 per cent. Surprisingly, there are 33 brands in the village which have their only stand-alone stores in Ireland.
Kildare Village’s surge over the past year, despite the storm clouds that started to gather at the end of 2008, has put it in the top three of the nine European parks operated by Value Retail. It ranks third overall in terms of turnover per square foot, behind the well-established Bicester village outside London and La Vallée outside Paris and close to Disneyland.
Ten new boutiques have opened in Kildare Village since the end of 2008 including All Saints, Anya Hindmarch, Cath Kidston, David Clulow, Desigual, Jack Wills, Jaeger, N Peal and the North Face.
The Irish fashion designer Louise Kennedy opened her first outlet boutique last week while premium denim brand 7 For All Mankind will test the market later this month.
Around 92 per cent of the 11,000sq m (118,403sq ft) of retail space in the village is already leased with the remaining five units set to open before Christmas.
Key for the Kildare operation has been its success in attracting some of the most sought-after luxury brands which sell off surplus stock at substantial discounts. Instead of having to rummage through piles of stock in a warehouse environment, Kildare has an inviting, ordered environment.
George Ross of letting agent Jones Lang LaSalle says that, as with other discount villages, traders pay a base rent of €570 a sq m (€53 per sq ft) or 12.5 per cent of turnover, whichever is the highest.
McGovern says her job is to provide assistance and support for the brands and drive sales at the centre. She works closely with the head offices of the various brands and if, for example, one of the outlets did not have particular sizes of garments, she follows up to make sure they get everything right.
Given the nature of the rental model, the more a brand is selling the better the return for the landlord. This is an unusual model in Irish retailing. “Value Retail is in effect a service provider whose first customer is the brand,” says McGovern.
Unlike traders on the high streets and in the shopping centres, companies based at Kildare Village do not have a right to renew their leases. If their operation is not up to scratch, the management will either downsize them or move them out altogether.
McGovern describes the relationship between landlord and brand as a partnership and says that less successful brands are not immediately shown the door. Before any expulsion takes place everything is considered, including fit-out, size and positioning of the shop.
The two largest stores are Nike with a shop extending to 795sq m (8,557sq ft) and Polo with 557sq m (5,995sq ft).
Irish fashion traders have a small enough representation in the park apart from Louise Kennedy. Another Irish fashion house, Regine, has been in business in Kildare for some time, along with an Irish “pop-up boutique” known as the Style Gallery and stocked by Quin and Donnelly, Deborah Veale and Helen McAlinden.
Although about 30 per cent of the overall footfall at both Bicester and La Vallée are international visitors, tourist numbers at Kildare Village are no higher than 8 per cent.
However, Retail Value is determined to continue promoting local attractions and historic monuments, a clever ploy that keeps the local community on side.
Though the park will shortly be operating at full capacity, there is no talk yet about extending the facility. However, the operators signed a deal in February 2007 with a third party to acquire land adjacent to the centre for additional car-parking, subject to planning permission being received. The annual “option fee” is €140,000 and it has until the end of 2011 to exercise this.
