DSG RETAIL Ireland is to create 100 jobs as it opens new stores and begins a redevelopment programme for its existing Irish stores.
The company, which trades as PC World and Currys in Ireland, said it would announce details of the locations of the new stores later this year.
It is also planning to change its current store format into a “two in one” type, similar to the model it operates in the UK and Italy. The new format will result in the Currys and PC World brands being combined under one roof and trading under a joint brand name.
The firm is also planning to refurbish certain stores, with locations in Galway and Limerick earmarked for development.
The renewal and transformation programme has been going on quietly. A PC World store in the Jervis Shopping Centre in Dublin recently got an overhaul, while the Currys store in Galway was also refurbished.
“Now is the time to get at it in a fairly structured way,” said Declan Ronayne, managing director of DSG Retail Ireland.
Mr Ronayne said no jobs would be lost as a result of the redevelopment. Staff were told last week of the changes, he added.
“If you take the example of the refurbishment of Currys in Galway, we thought we’d take on an additional five staff; we took on an additional 12,” he said.
“The brief we’ve given our staff and the experience of the UK is that we’ll merge both sets of staff and then we’ll need some more people too. It’ll be job enhancing.”
Where PC World and Currys stores are close to each other, they will move into a single unit, he said. Discussions are taking place with landlords.
“Some landlords are very keen on this, and some landlords are very keen on their leases with upward-only rent reviews. That has to be addressed,” Mr Ronayne said. “Landlords have to get realistic about rentals in the new Ireland.”
It will be a multimillion-euro project, he said, although a total figure for the investment was not given.
“We’re looking long-term,” he said. “DSG Group has lots of places in Europe it can invest in, and it has decided to invest in Ireland.”
