Factory outlet seen as threat to stores in Dublin

DUBLIN Chamber of Commerce has described as "inappropriate" the choice of Kill, Co Kildare, as the proposed venue for Ireland's first factory outlet shopping complex.

Kildare County Council is considering a planning application for the Pounds 20 million development which will have 45 outlets selling mainly clothing by the leading premium branded manufacturers.

The UK promoters are describing the development beside Goff's as a "tourist outlet village" - but some Dublin retailers have labelled it a factory outlet centre aimed primarily at Dublin shoppers because of its location on a motorway 16 miles from the city centre.

Factory outlet shopping has been one of the fast-growing sectors of the British and US retail markets.

Planning permission has already been granted for a similar facility in Killarney but it is not clear if it will go ahead.

If the Kill scheme is approved, it is likely to have an effect on trade at The Square in Tallaght, Blanchardstown Town Centre and Quarryvale, which is to open towards the end of next year. It will also have repercussions for city centre trading.

The promoters of the Kill project say units will be leased to manufacturers who must sell items at discounts ranging from 25 to 70 per cent. The clothes will be generally out of range and end of season's fashions. Tenants will be charged a basic rent plus a percentage of their turnover.

Declan Martin of Dublin Chamber or Commerce said there was a tacit understanding that Quarryvale would be the last of the major new shopping centres on the periphery of Dublin. The city centre was already taking a hit" because of Blanchardstown and a number of provincial towns were also suffering.

The chamber was not adopting a protectionist view on retailing but they would have to look at the Kill scheme from a planning point of view and also in terms of the balance of retailing.

Further shopping developments along the periphery of Dublin were not warranted at this stage. The Kill location was inappropriate because it was only 10 minutes on a motorway from the city.

Aidan O'Hogan of Hamilton Osborne King, which is the letting agents for Quarryvale said he did not expect the Kill centre to have any material impact on the new shopping centre. Like every other retail schemes, it would be subject to a retail impact study and the issue of impact on other shopping areas would have to be tested in detail.

John Bruder of AIB Investment Managers said his understanding of factory outlet shopping was that it was developed well away from existing urban centres because manufacturers were anxious that these units should not affect high street prices and prices in shopping centres. Because Kill was so close to Dublin, it would undoubtedly affect trade in the major city centre stores.

He suggested there should be shopping plan for the greater Dublin area, which now extends into parts of Meath, Kildare and Wicklow.

The Kill development is being promoted by Irish International Tourist Outlets, an affiliate of Value Retail plc, the UK international property developer which specialises in premium brand outlet villages. Value Retail, through its sister company, Chelsea GCA, is associated with 20 premium outlet villages in the US, including New York, San Francisco and Boston. Value Retail is developing similar outlets at Disneyland Paris and north of Barcelona. It controls a premium outlet village at Bicester, between London and Birmingham.