UK fashion chain for former Habitat store

The group which controls the Cult and Superdry brands has agreed a base rent of around €500,000 for the store, and a top-up equivalent to 10 per cent of turnover

A TOP UK fashion chain which controls the Cult and Superdry brands is to open a new store before Christmas in part of the former Habitat outlet on Dublin’s Suffolk Street.

The owners of the building are also involved in lengthy negotiations with the upmarket London-based Wolseley Group to set up a café/restaurant in the remaining part of the store fronting on to College Green which has been vacant since Habitat closed down in May, 2008.

The decision by Supergroup Holdings to open off Grafton Street will be seen as an important boost for the city centre, and particularly the main high street, after a poor summer of trading and widespread controversy over the excessive rents on the street.

Supergroup Holdings is understood to have agreed a base rent of around €500,000 for the 1,216sq m (13,090sq ft) store plus a top-up equivalent to 10 per cent of the turnover. Several other international traders who moved into Dublin in recent years also opted for a fixed rent as well as a top-up element based on turnover.

Supergroup has been trading well in recent years despite the underlying economic difficulties in Britain and overseas. Chief executive Julian Dunkerton said yesterday that, with their finger on the pulse of the young fashion clothing sector, they had managed to buck the trend in the UK. They expected turnover of £120–£140 million (€128–€149 million) in the current financial year with an impressive 27 per cent growth in like-for-like sales.

Lisa McGrane of Jones Lang LaSalle, who advised the tenant, describes Cult as “a very desirable brand” which is currently available in 12 Superdry stores in the UK and 15 internationally. Separately, there are 16 Cult stores in Britain selling a mix of brands.

The 17-month delay in finding a replacement tenant for Habitat, despite the huge volume of retail space it offers on the edge of Grafton Street, is a reflection of the slowdown in high street activity by many of the big international retailers.

Larry Brennan of Savills, who acted for the owners of the building, said the letting was the largest this year in the city centre and had taken about six months to wrap up. There were obvious difficulties in finding a big name retailer with the resources to fit out and trade from such a large store.

Habitat, which was forced to close because of a severe fall-off in sales as a result of the slowdown in the new homes sector, originally hoped to get key money of €3 million for the store and, when there were no takers, the company was put into voluntary liquidation.

Estate agent Garvan Walsh of Walsh Kelly then embarked on a new campaign to dispose of the lease and, though there was initial interest from a number of traders, including German discounter Lidl as well as American clothing giant Abercrombie Fitch and the Ulster Bank, no firm offers emerged.

Lidl, for example, was unwilling to pay either a reduced €2 million premium or the annual rent of €1.3 million.

The keys were eventually returned to owners Paddy McKillen and Tony Leonard of Clarendon Properties who also own the nearby Powerscourt Town Centre. The two businessmen bought the former Bank of Ireland building in 2002 for €22 million before leasing it to Habitat.