Shoppers of a rather different persuasion flocked to the Jervis shopping centre last week, making it feel like the set of a reality show focused on high-stakes bidding—minus the dramatic tension and sweaty palms.
Up to 13 first-round offers were tossed into the proverbial ring for the Dublin city centre mall, discreetly placed on the market by its discreet owners, Paddy McKillen and Padraig Drayne. One can only imagine how they served the news: “Oh, by the way, we’ll just be casually selling a shopping centre. No big deal!”
This isn’t just any shopping centre; it’s the first time since the 1990s that it’s heard those sweet, sweet auctioneer cries. The mall developed under the watchful eyes of McKillen, Drayne, and some guy named Paschal Taggart is one of the last standing monuments to that era before shopping malls were merely husks of their former glory, waiting for their Hollywood comeback.
Bidders included the usual suspects: the Comer Group, US property investor Hines, and others, joining together like some sort of real estate Avengers team, ready to save the day—or at least make a quick buck. Rumor has it that they spent about as much time figuring out their offers as one would on deciding what shade of gray to paint a wall.
And while one might think the property investment market is like the Tinder of the retail world—full of ghosting and bad dates—retail has been the belle of the ball for over a year. It’s the hottest name in town, attracting capital like a moth to a flame—while the office and private rental sectors lie in a dark corner, sipping lukewarm drinks and wallowing in disappointment.
AIB’s latest retail report shows in-store spending is up (surprise!) by 2% compared to last year. Apparently, people are realizing that shopping in pajamas isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be. And for those still skeptical, an EY Future Consumer index reveals that a shocking seven in ten prefer good old-fashioned stores. Maybe the thrill of being stared down by a mannequin is just too hard to resist.
Jean McCabe from Retail Excellence Ireland believes that customers are returning for the “customer experience”—which sounds suspiciously like code for “we like pretending to be gourmet chefs while we sample free cheese in stores.” Retailers are evidently jumping on the bandwagon, opening more stores to achieve economies of scale. Who knew that more was more?
In this weird renaissance of retail glory, Brendan McDowell of BPerfect Cosmetics started by selling online but then decided that physical stores were where the real magic happened. After all, who wouldn’t want to awkwardly brush elbows with fellow shoppers while deciding which shade of blush to buy?
As we trudge toward a more robust retail sphere, it seems that traditional shopping might not be quite as dead as once predicted. Or maybe it’s just coming back to life like a slightly disheveled zombie, determined to prove the naysayers wrong. Statistics suggest shoppers are excited enough to abandon their homes and brave the wilderness of malls once more, leading some to think that bricks-and-mortar might have a few more tricks up its sleeve.
