UK-based retailer Watches of Switzerland plans to open its first store in Ireland with a Tag Heuer “boutique” at Dundrum Town Centre.
The new store forms part of the London-listed retailer’s plan to open mono-brand boutiques across Europe where customers can book private one-to-one appointments in-store when buying a watch. The 1,475sq ft store will be positioned opposite the Brown Thomas unit on Level 1 and is expected to open in February 2023.
Commenting on the new letting, Connor Owens, managing director of asset management (Ireland & Scotland) for Hammerson, said: “The arrival of Watches of Switzerland, a first for Ireland, reinforces Dundrum Town Centre’s position as Ireland’s premier shopping and leisure destination … The new Tag Heuer will resonate well with Dundrum customers.”
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Watches are becoming a bigger part of the Irish retail landscape. Earlier this month, The Irish Times revealed that Paul Sheeran Jewellers agreed a deal with investment group Hines to lease the entire ground floor of a new Chatham & King development off Grafton Street, where he plans to sell watches in separate boutiques from some of the biggest luxury brands, including Cartier, Breitling, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Panerai.
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Separately, Irish clothing brand Gym+Coffee, backed by singer-songwriter Niall Horan and probably best known for its hoodies, plans to increase its footprint at Dundrum by relocating to a unit adjacent to the north mall entrance on Level 2. The new 1,918sq ft store is to open in September. Gym+Coffee opened its first brick-and-mortar store in Dundrum in 2017.
Hammerson, the British property group that co-owns Dundrum with Allianz and also operates the town centre, said this move with Gym+Coffee was part of its strategy to “identify digitally native brands and offer them an opportunity to grow their business and customer-base through a physical space”. It cited Millies, 4th ARQ and Paperchase as other Irish brands that have been “incubated” at Dundrum.
Dundrum Town Centre is home to more than 169 tenants, almost 140,000sq m of floor space and about 3,400 car parking spaces.
