SHOWGROUNDS SHOPPING CENTRE ACHIEVES RECORD RETAIL FIGURES

Monday 09 November 2009

An Taoiseach Brian Cowen performed the official opening of The Showgrounds Shopping Centre on Friday October 16th.  The Showgrounds is the only shopping centre to open in Ireland this year and has achieved record breaking trading figures since its opening weekend.  According to one of the largest retailers in the scheme, Robert Barron of Pamela Scott Group, "The Showgrounds Clonmel is our 15th store and we had a fantastic opening weekend.  We have a large store in the scheme and were obviously keen to ensure that our investment was a success.  We are delighted to report that the Pamela Scott store in Clonmel was one of the busiest stores in the group over the entire opening weekend and we are looking forward to even more positive figures over the next few weeks."

Other retailers go on to say, ““The Bestseller group has five stores in the Showgrounds, Clonmel namely; Jack and Jones, ONLY, Vila, Name it and Mamalicious.  We are absolutely thrilled with the success of the opening weekend and can happily report that it has been one of the most successful shopping centres opening’s that we have been involved with.” Mary Fitzpatrick, Bestseller Group.

The food retailers were also delighted with the success of the scheme, “The Showgrounds Clonmel is the 40th Eddie Rockets in Ireland and on Friday October 16th the Clonmel store was the busiest Eddie Rockets store in the country. We are absolutely delighted with the performance so far and are looking forward to continuing to break our targets in Clonmel.”  Brian Dunne, Eddie Rockets. Susan Smith from BBs Coffee and Muffins said, “The Showgrounds store was exceptionally busy on the opening weekend and our figures surpassed the Liffey Valley store on numerous days during the opening week.  We are delighted with our opening weekend and look forward to more record breaking weekends!”

On a visit to the Centre on Friday October 23rd, George Lee T.D said “I am delighted to see such a strong retail performance in the Showgrounds and I commend the developers and retailers for taking the brave step given current economic conditions.  Its really good news to hear that the centre is performing so well with the added boost of 500 jobs for Clonmel.”  Accompanying Deputy Lee on his visit was Tom Hayes T.D who added, “There is no doubt that the addition of Showgrounds is extremely welcome here in Clonmel.  There is a greater choice of retailers for the people of the South East and the Centre is of immense importance to the economy of Clonmel and the surrounding areas.  I congratulate Greenband Investments and I wish all the retailers and those involved every continued success”.

The Showgrounds is an 11,000 sq.m.centre with 32 retail units and 360 car park spaces.  The centre has a strong fashion focus with retailers including Marks & Spencer, Pamela Scott, Jack & Jones, Vila, ONLY, Name It and Pulse Accessories, food retailers Pralibel Belgian Chocolate, Crunch, BBs Coffee & Muffins, Eddie Rockets and Fine Wines and a host of other retailers including First Chapter Books, A&E Jewellers, Seruni Craft and Hype Hair. 

Developed by Limerick based Greenband Investments, a five retail unit extension to the Showgrounds is already being planned which could provide an additional 250 new jobs.  The previous planning application was refused by An Bord Pleanala on 18th September, despite very positive support from Clonmel Borough Council and An Bord Pleanala’s Inspector, who recommended a decision to grant planning.  Following this refusal, Greenband Investments worked very quickly to re-lodge a revised application on October 14th which takes into consideration An Bord Pleanala’s decision. 

For further information on the Showgrounds, please log onto www.showgrounds.ie

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For further information please contact:

Joanne Geary

Red Ink Marketing

Tel: 086 8224381

E: joanne@redinkmarketing.com

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