Dunnes Stores is believed to have paid in excess of £10 million for the C&A store at Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, in west Dublin. Dunnes will be taking over early in the new year and using it as a fashion and home furnishings store. The 22,000 sq ft store and 8,000 sq ft of storage space is virtually freehold and had been trading well until C&A's owners, the Brenninkmeyer family, decided to close all 109 of their British and Irish stores. Several major multiples bid for groups of stores, some of which included Liffey Valley. The Irish store is thought to be the only one sold as the Brenninkmeyer family's property arm, Redevco, leased rather than sold the remaining stores.

Aidan O'Hogan of Hamilton Osborne King, letting agent for Liffey Valley, said he was not in a position to comment on the selling price but while the agency was sorry to lose C&A, it was good to see a strong trader like Dunnes Stores replacing it.