Retail MarketHackett - best known for its vintage-inspired looks - is set to open in a 'mini Bond Street' scheme just off Grafton Street, writes Gretchen Friemann
Hackett, the upmarket British menswear label and long-time sponsor of English rugby star Johnny Wilkinson, is set to open its first Irish store on South Anne Street in December.
The deal completes the transformation of what was once a rundown terrace of Edwardian shop fronts into a luxury fashion destination and will be seen as a major coup for its developers, property magnate Paddy McKillen and solicitor Ivor Fitzpatrick.
Hackett, often referred to as Britain's answer to Ralph Lauren, has agreed to pay an annual rent of over €400,000 for the centre's final unit which stretches over two floors and extends to 330sq m (3,552sq ft).
While the rent falls short of the record €425,000 annual rate agreed two years ago by the UK shirt maker TM Lewin for a store near South Anne Street's junction with Grafton Street, industry experts claim the comparatively expensive lease underscores market expectations of a rental increase in the area.
News of Hackett's imminent arrival also follows confirmation that Warehouse will join global fashion multiples Zara and H&M at a Joe O'Reilly-developed complex on South King Street.
But many will be hoping that future developments are delivered at a speedier pace than McKillen and Fitzpatrick's. Although now regarded as one of the most sophisticated urban renewal schemes in town - Charles Guilbaud, son of the Michelin-star chef Patrick Guilbaud, operates the popular brassiere, Venu, from the building's double-height basement - the site remained derelict for several years because of complex tenancy disputes and conservation issues.
The initial plan was to turn the former McGonagle's nightclub into a boutique hotel but that was shelved in favour of the "mini-Bond Street" ambition.
At one stage market speculation went into overdrive when a report suggested that fashion top roller Armani had signed up for the scheme.
So far no developer has succeeded in persuading a leading design house to trade out of a stand-alone store. This is thought to be partly a result of the strict concession arrangements such names have with Brown Thomas. However, retail sources argue it would "always have been difficult to cut a deal" with one of these brands for a development that, despite its beautiful façade restoration work, was in a "comparatively unproven location".
The South Anne Street scheme is closer to Dawson Street, where footfall rates are lower, than the busier Grafton Street.
But as Bernadine Hogan of Savills HOK, the agency that handled the lettings, points out, the development has delivered "new, distinctive retailers" to the city centre. And she said the Grafton side-street would receive a "massive boost" from a tenant line-up that features Hackett and the American fashion giant Guess as co-anchors, with Links of London and the Whestone-operated Aveda salon trading out of two smaller units.
Hackett is the eponymous clothing chain of tailor James Hackett. Branding itself as the home of "essential British kit", the company, which has dressed royalty, is best known for its vintage-inspired looks, colourful rugby and polo shorts, preppy striped button-front shirts and dapper pin-striped suits.
Founded 23 years ago as an outlet for the treasures that Hackett and his partner Ashley Lloyd Jennings unearthed in house clearances and antiques markets, the business has grown into an Anglophile fashion and accessories chain of 29 shops with outlets in the UK, Spain and France.
The retailer is also represented across 15 European countries and in Hong Kong and Dubai.
