Lack of sites chills Iceland’s Irish expansion plan

Malcolm Walker, the founder of the UK retail chain Iceland Foods, says its plan to open between 50 and 60 new stores in Ireland, which would create more than 1,000 new jobs, is being held back by difficulties acquiring suitable sites.

Mr Walker, who founded the frozen food retailer 43 years ago, said it was a “real problem” that most empty retail sites in the country are under the control of banks and insolvency practitioners.

Iceland, which has upwards of 800 stores employing more than 20,000 staff in the UK, as well six stores it owns in Ireland, announced its plan to expand here in November after buying back its Irish franchise from the AIM Group.

“The real problem is property,” said Mr Walker. “We opened 46 new stores in the UK last year, but we have a big pipeline there – everyone knows our model. We are usually on the high street with no parking.”

Acquire sites
He said the company had found it problematic trying to acquire sites previously controlled by insolvent businesses.

“Most of the properties in Ireland are in receivership, or controlled by banks, or the state [through Nama] or whoever. It’s a bugger of a job to get sites in Ireland. It’s been a right slog. Lots of them are in the wrong sort of location for us,” he said.

Iceland currently operates six stores here – four in Dublin and one each in Carlow and Clonmel – after closing its Ilac centre store in Dublin in December after a dispute with its landlord. Mr Walker said the existing stores will be closed temporarily for renovation.

“If we open just one or two more this year I’ll be delighted. Next year, it will be five or six. But if enough of the right properties come along it could be 15 or 20. That’s all that’s holding us back – the availability of the right type of properties.”

He said the chain, famous for products such as donor kebab pizzas and frozen pasties, would attempt to shed some of its British veneer in its Irish operation.

“It’s more about the product range . . . We can’t just sell all our products with prices flashes in sterling. We need to source as many Irish products as we can.”