A decade after closing its doors, Dunnes Stores has reopened the company's premises on Dublin's South Great George's Street.

However, the refurbished store bears little resemblance to its former appearance and owes more to the kind of food and drink outlets found in New York and other American cities.

In its latest guise, the unit is primarily a grocery store, although it does stock a number of other associated products as well. According to Dunnes's chief operating officer, Andrew Street, the 4,500 sq ft of space at 19 South Great George's Street "is quite different to our other stores and has been designed to take advantage of the unique architecture of the building". The outlet is part of the large building adjacent to the late Victorian Castle Market and has protected status, limiting the development which can take place on this site.

Dunnes Stores originally opened a shop here in 1960, when the premises was one of the very first self-selection drapery stores in the state. It closed in 1990 when Dunnes opened a large store in the St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre. The company has a long lease on the site which was briefly used in the mid-1990s by Tower Records before that business moved to Wicklow Street. However, for much of the past 10 years there has been no trading on this section of South Great George's Street, to the irritation of other local retailers who have complained that the shop's shuttered windows discouraged potential consumers from coming to the area.

"We're very happy with this addition," comments David Baker of the two-year old George's Street Business Association which has been lobbying to increase the number of retailers in the area. "When Dunnes closed its store, that was a great blow to a street already suffering," Mr Baker remembers. Now he praises the company for reopening on the site, commenting: "It's a beautiful store, they've done a great job." In a further effort to boost the number of consumers coming to the thoroughfare, for the first time in 25 years South Great George's Street is decorated with Christmas lighting, at a cost of approximately £140,000 to the association's members.

Dunnes Stores's decision to reopen on its old site has therefore been widely welcomed as a strong addition to GSBA's strategy. The store's interior has been entirely designed to suit what the company describes as "people with busy lifestyles" and, with this in mind, there is particular emphasis on prepared and pre-packaged foods. While the usual range of sandwiches and drinks is stocked, there is also a very large self-service salad bar and an equally substantial area given over to hot cooked meats and meals. One part of the store is devoted to an off-licence, stocking over 180 varieties of wines as well as beers and spirits.

To the front of the premises, the outlet carries newspapers and magazines, while on the outside an ATM has been installed. The nature of the business is reflected in its trading hours as the shop operates from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. from Monday to Saturday and from midday to 8 p.m. on Sundays. While the South Great George's Street frontage is now once more open to the public, that on Exchequer Street remains closed as the area behind it is used for storage and food preparation.

This new-style Dunnes Stores demonstrates greatly increased demand from consumers for convenience-food outlets in the city centre where the resident population has greatly increased over the past 10 years; a number of similar outlets now operate on nearby Dame Street. Andrew Street confirms that "its format as a convenience store is new for us and it will also be included in the refurbishment of our North Earl Street store due to open in the spring."

Dunnes Stores insists the outlet will be a permanent presence, even after the company concludes work on the £20 million development it plans to undertake on the opposite, western side of the street. Backing on to the grounds of Dublin Castle, this scheme will involve the demolition of approximately one-third of all existing buildings with only the Long Hall bar being spared. Planning permission was granted earlier this year for the project, which runs up to the corner of Stephen Street. It will be five storeys tall and offer new views of the castle and its grounds. While there will be a number of retail units on the ground floor, the upper levels are to serve as company headquarters. Building work is due to commence here early in 2001 and is evidence of Dunnes Stores's ongoing expansionist mood. This year, Dunnes has opened two new retail outlets in Dublin and one apiece in Galway and Cork. In addition, its British operation has been growing with further shops opening in 2000 in Leeds and Glasgow.