A giant Mississippi showboat was probably the least offensive of the many descriptions that immediately attached themselves to the St Stephen's Green Centre when it opened its doors 10 years ago. While the exterior of the building caused controversy, the interior, with its high, domed, glazed roof and natural light, was immediately seen as a welcome alternative to the enclosed, flourescently lit shopping centres that had become the norm in the city. However, since the 100 unit centre at the top of Grafton Street opened, the retail climate has changed dramatically - as have consumer expectations of what a shopping centre should be. Quality, out-of-town competition has come from Blanchardstown and the Liffey Valley Centres but the real point of comparison for shoppers and retailers came with the opening of the Jervis Street Centre three years ago.

The Stephen's Green Centre is owned by Firmount Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Land Co plc, and its mix of tenants is dominated by Irish retailers. Topping the list is Dunnes Stores, the anchor tenant with 125,000 sq ft. What follows is a roll-call of familiar, successful Irish retailers including Roches Stores, Cafe Kylemore, Peter Mark, Hickeys, Hughes and Hughes, O Brien's Sandwich Bar, and Golden Discs, all of whom have a significant presence in the centre. This contrasts sharply with all the newer centres which rely heavily on British multiples.

The 10th anniversary of the opening of the centre is a significant one for original tenants who are now negotiating their second rent reviews, a process that began in October, 1998. Stephen Murray of the agents for the centre, Jones Lang Wootton, expects the negotiations to go on for the next two to three months. As is the norm, rent levels are highly dependent on what level in the centre the unit is on, but in the Stephen's Green Centre this is more marked than usual as the top floor has never been able to establish itself as a retail destination on a par with even the floor immediately below it.

On the ground floor, current rents are around £70 per sq ft but these are likely to be increased to at least £95 to bring them into line with the most recent lettings. On the second floor, it will be no surprise if the current average rent of £37 per sq ft increases by as much as 50 per cent, given that the former Zouk shop, previously let at £33 a sq ft, will shortly be relet at around £60 per sq ft. Units on the top floor pay £25 per sq ft but here again the rents could well go up by around 60 per cent. Kiosk units on the ground floor are rented at £130 to more than £200 per sq ft. Few of the kiosks are to have their rents reviewed in the current round. Service charges are worked on a weighted average system, with the base figure being £7.50 per sq ft.

With weekly numbers of shoppers averaging about 200,000, the tenants generally have reason to be satisfied with the centre's popularity. However there is a feeling among some unit holders that aspects of the centre are in need of a revamp. The main entrance has now become as much of a meeting place for Dubliners as Clery's clock and its not difficult to see why, given the location and the fact that it is covered in. But the entrance is a major bone of contention with tenants because it gets over-crowded very quickly, making it unattractive for casual shoppers trying to battle their way in. A planning application to replace the main entrance with an open-plan, circular entrance lobby is due to be lodged this week. Also, the escalator is positioned just inside the entrance which leads to even more congestion. And while most Dubliners know that the centre is, in fact, a shopping centre, anyone else might be confused as there is no eye-catching signage. Shopping centres are increasingly more customer oriented but the Stephen's Green Centre doesn't even have an information desk. Instead, the kiosk nearest the door, which would be an ideal spot for a service desk, has been let to an outlet for Lotto tickets. Indeed, the central area of the entire ground floor is now dominated by large kiosks, making cross-flow of traffic from the shops on one side to shops on the other less attractive. The Fitzwilliam Hotel is part of the centre, in that it was built by its owners and then let on a long lease to hotelier Michael Holland. Far from seeing this as a positive development, there is a feeling among tenants that a luxury designer hotel brings little or nothing in the way of extra business for the retailers. Also, there is a feeling among the original tenants that when they moved into their units 10 years ago there was the idea that the land on which the hotel now sits would be used for a second phase of the centre, accessed from the first floor. This phase was to have been more entertainment oriented to help the centre to compete with out-of-town centres that increasingly include cinemas and other leisure facilities.

The hotel development had an interesting spin off in that when it was built, new storage units for the shops were built behind it, and so the original storage spaces which were in the basement of the centre were freed up. This facilitated the letting of 3,500 sq ft of basement space at a rent of £95,000 per annum on the South King Street.

Ronnie Delaney, who has an interest in nearby Captain America's, took up the option and opened Wagamama, a Japanese noodle house and by far the trendiest new addition to the centre for some time. There has been an attempt by the centre's management to address tenants' complaints, in particular the feeling after the high-profile opening of the Jervis Centre, that the St Stephen's Green complex was losing out in terms of advertising and marketing.

Last year a PR and marketing consultancy was appointed to co-ordinate a strategic approach to marketing the centre. Significantly, one of the initiatives - a centrewide gift voucher system - has had a poor uptake, with few of the shops taking part because as one tenant said: "There's no information centre, so who's going to traipse up to a makeshift desk on the second floor to buy a voucher."

As against this, units in the centre are in strong demand from retailers trying to get a foothold close to Grafton Street. Last year, the Michael Fairite Group paid a premium of £105,000 for the leasehold interest in the Associates Shop; a unit on the first floor with a new lease and a premium of £75,000 is being chased by three parties even before its availability has been advertised. As for what type of retailer such a unit might attract, existing tenants would be pleased with a quality branded fashion outlet because there is a perception that there are too few such outlets in the centre - in sharp and uncomfortable contrast to Grafton Street.