Quiksilver for centre on Green

RetailMarket:Ireland's first Quiksilver fashion store is to open at the St Stephen's Green shopping centre in Dublin. It will be based in a unique three-level unit on the ground floor which was recently vacated by Hickey's Fabrics, one of the origin tenants.

The new store is to be run by the owners of Tribe, another highly successful outlet specialising in youth fashion which has been trading in the centre since 1992.

The Quiksilver store will have a floor area of over 300sq m (3,229sq ft) on three tiers which will allow separate sport and fashion menswear, branded Roxy ladies range and increasingly important luggage element.

Quiksilver will be paying an annual rent of €200,000 as against a comparable rent of €700,000 per annum on Grafton Street, according to Stephen Murray, retail agency director of Jones Lang LaSalle which handles lettings at the centre.

"With such a rental difference within the same prime shopping area, it's not surprising that there is a resurgence of interest in the St Stephen's Green centre," he said.

Quiksilver will be run as an independent store and, according to one of the owners Karl Swan, they will be "selling a lifestyle . . . and the fit-out and stock will reflect that".

He promised that the store would have a "strong visual difference in the marketplace".

The fit-out for the store is being provided by Quiksilver which has become one of the leading designers of clothing accessories and related products for young-minded people. Its casual lifestyle has been driven from a board riding heritage.

Quiksilver's products are sold primarily in surf shops, skate shops and other speciality stores around the world.