A PRIVATE investor has settled for a yield of 7 per cent on a shop unit at the Merrion Shopping Centre in Merrion Road, Dublin 4. The 1,000-square-foot unit is rented by Power Supermarkets for its Notions business at a rent of £32,654 per annum. The 25-year lease runs from 1990. Two other shops in the centre have also been sold to private investors at yields of around 8 per cent. One of them is a 580-square-foot unit occupied by Hayes Book Shop at a rent of £20,300; the other store of 290 square feet is let on a short lease to a children's fashion retailer at £8,000. All three shops have been sold by Canada Life Assurance as part of a review of its £50 million property portfolio in Ireland. The company recently invested £7 million in an extension at The Square in Tallaght. Property manager Michael White acknowledged this week that The Square will be affected by the proposed Quarryvale Shopping Centre but said Canada Life was "not overly concerned" about the competition. Mason Owen Lyons handled the sale of the retail units.