Shoppers of a rather eccentric flavor flocked to the Jervis shopping center last week, a gathering that could only be described as a rare form of retail pilgrimage. Who knew shopping could be so fashionable?
Reports of up to 13 first-round offers—yes, folks, that’s 13—were tabled for the mall in Dublin’s city center. Our keen estate agents inform us that the owners, Paddy McKillen and Padraig Drayne, have been playing it quietly since they decided to put it on the market. Apparently, discretion is the better part of retail valor.
This prestigious auction marked the first time the shopping center had graced the market since its birth in the 1990s, courtesy of our friends McKillen and Drayne, alongside Paschal Taggart. If you were wondering, yes, it’s somewhat special when a shopping center manages to stay owned by its developers for three decades. Truly, a love story for the ages!
Among the bidders—oh, the usual suspects from the high-stakes game of shopping center Monopoly—were the Comer Group, the American real estate giant Hines, and Peter Horgan’s Lugus Capital. If real estate was a dating app, they’d all be swiping right for Jervis. Apparently, even David Goddard’s Lanthorn, on behalf of clients, couldn’t resist the siren call of retail real estate.
The audacity of this bidding frenzy follows an equally wild dance for Marlet’s trio of retail parks, which saw ten initial bids. Something tells me that retail is the party of the century, and everyone’s using their best dance moves for the occasion.
For over a year now, retail has been the unexpected belle of the property investment ball, attracting more capital than a golden goose. Meanwhile, the debonair world of offices and private rented schemes has been swiping left. Yet, amidst the gloom of Covid-era headlines declaring the death of in-store shopping, retail seems to be unearthing its survival instincts and rising from the ashes—call it the Phoenix of shopping.
Would you believe, in its latest retail report, AIB unveiled that in-store spending has made a snazzy 2% rebound when compared to the same time last year? It’s like retail had a spa day and came back rejuvenated. The EY Future Consumer index—talk about a futuristic name—claims that a healthy 70% of consumers are preferring physical stores for their daily item shopping. Who needs Amazon when you have a lovely outing, right?
Jean McCabe, the chief executive of Retail Excellence Ireland, describes shoppers as “returning to stores for the customer experience.” Just imagine retail as the Ted Lasso of sectors, fostering community and goodwill, while retailers, in true superhero style, open up more stores for “economies of scale.”
And now for a plot twist! Brendan McDowell, the hero behind BPerfect Cosmetics, started by selling online. But after morphing into an actual brick-and-mortar presence, he has proudly opened 13 stores across the UK and Ireland in just five years. Talk about leveling up from the gaming couch to the big leagues!
So there you have it. To paraphrase, retail parks and shopping centers are starting to feel like a well-cast ensemble in a feel-good movie, adapting and thriving even as some competitors bow out. Sure, the pandemic may have hinted at the retail apocalypse, but if anything, it seems to have been an unintentional advertisement for the resilience of physical stores—defying all expectations while wearing sensible shoes.
