Upscale Frasers department stores to open in Ireland

Frasers Group’s premium-to-luxury Frasers department store concept is to open in two former Debenhams units in the Republic of Ireland with a debut in Cork and Kildare in 2022.

They’ll be in the Mahon Point Shopping Centre in the former, and Whitewater Shopping Centre in the latter with the company saying a significant number of jobs will be created.

While vacant department store sites can be difficult for landlords to fill given their large size, when they’re in prime locations, they’re a golden opportunity for a business like Frasers that’s in expansion mode. And we assume the rent deals it’s been able to strike will have been fairly generous.

The higher-end Frasers concept grew out of the firm’s House of Fraser chain that the then-Sports Direct acquired out of administration in 2018.

The move upmarket came as the firm also worked to give its Sports Direct chain a more premium image and added new locations for its high-end Flannels chain.

Frasers as a chain remains small for now with the first location having only opened in Wolverhampton’s Mander Centre in Britain this spring when the second national lockdown ended.

But the company clearly sees potential for it, with the reduction in size of the John Lewis chain and the Debenhams demise adding to that potential in what’s clearly no longer an overcrowded department store market.

The two new Frasers sites will carry hundreds of brands covering categories from fashion to beauty, accessories and designer kidswear. Sport will also be a key feature with Sports Direct set to have a home in both of the stores.

In fact, the Sports Direct locations will open first, later this year, with the Frasers branches to debut early next year.

Upscale Frasers department stores to open in Ireland

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