Learn Exactly How I Improved Lidl in Ireland In 2 Days
Competition in the Irish grocery trade is set to turn out to be much more intense following the disclosure by German discounter Lidl that it is looking for web sites for more than 60 extra stores on each sides from the Border.
The planned expansion is thought to be the largest by any of the main grocery multiples and coincides with signs of a continuing recovery in consumer spending in the Republic.
Lidl is already one of the biggest retailers in Ireland with 143 shops as well as a further 38 in Northern Ireland. The other German discount chain Aldi has 115 stores in the Republic but will not trade in Northern Ireland.
Lidl has appointed CBRE’s Dublin and Belfast offices to discover www.kogge-hamburg.com key websites in cities and towns to facilitate the expansion. Following opening its very first store here in 2000, it expanded rapidly and "experienced unparalleled growth throughout their lifetime in Ireland," according to the business.
As part of the continued expansion strategy it says it's "looking to open additional 60-plus shops on higher profile websites with excellent visibility and accessibility."
Freehold properties
The best website will likely be two acres in size though smaller plots of around one acre will probably be considered in higher density urban places. There's also a preference for freehold properties to accommodate stores ranging in size from 1,800 sq m to 2,400 sq m (19, 375 sq ft/25,833 sq ft).
Florence Stanley, head of retail at CBRE Dublin, mentioned that as well as mounting a countrywide look for suitable web sites, they will be contacting local estate agents to find the best business areas.
"It may well take a although to fulfil our commitment but if we handle to line up 60 websites inside 3 years our client would most likely be pleased."
Whilst most of the current Lidl properties have substantial parking facilities, the company has also been in a position to avail of smaller, well-located sites by placing the retailers on stilts and making use of the space underneath the creating for parking.
1 such store is positioned around the 1.14-acre former Sunday Globe site in Terenure which recently opened for enterprise.
That website was bought by a residential improvement business during the home boom for €18.three million and was acquired right after the crash by Lidl for greater than €4 million.
Not good news
Tara Buckley, director general in the Retail Grocery Dairy and Allied Trades Association, stated 60 discount supermarkets was not great news for Irish towns and villages.
A report by economist Jim Energy had shown that a euro spent in a locally owned shop was worth 3 instances more than 1 spent inside a British or German chain. At the end in the day their earnings go back to Germany or the UK.
Lidl’s share from the discount market in the North has risen considerably over the years although surprisingly the business has not been challenged in that industry by Aldi. That company recently confirmed that its planned £600 million expansion within the UK - it is to open another 550 outlets - is not going to include Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, Tesco continues to be mulling more than the long delayed megastore planned for Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in west Dublin. It has denied it really is to become abandoned just like 49 other supermarket projects in the UK.
Organizing permission for the retailer was granted by An Bord Plean?la in June 2016 and, based on an official spokesperson, the business is "working via planning compliance with all the local authority and as such a commencement date for the improvement has not yet been finalised".
