WHAT'S THE STORY WITH DESIGNER OUTLET CENTRES?
AS A COUNTRY, we’re suffering from some serious economic ills, and for once shopping won’t cure us. In fact, retail therapy is clearly the last thing on our collective minds, with sales volumes down almost 18 per cent, and shops closing down all around us. But there’s one place bucking the trend, with new shops opening, sales on the up, and more and more shoppers arriving to part with what’s left of their cash.
This market maverick is outlet centre Kildare Village, the purpose-built home of some 52 designer brands that opened right in the middle of the Curragh three years ago. Figures show its footfall is growing each week, with a 20 per cent increase on the same period last year. And, in stark contrast to the empty lots emerging all over Dublin, 10 new brands have set up stall at this outlet centre since last September alone.
The question is, why? Maria McGovern, the centre’s director of retail and marketing, has one explanation. “A lot of people talk about the great day out, and I think what they mean is that they have a nice overall experience at our village. It’s a bit like an oasis from the norm of a high street shopping or traditional shopping centre.”
Aesthetically at least, Kildare Village is different to the enclosed malls we’ve come to associate with the concept of a shopping centre. The “village” consists of individual shops under slate-pitched roofs and behind cheery wooden and coloured facades, along wide, outdoor pathways, scattered with flowerbeds and benches. According to McGovern, it was designed specifically with its location at the heart of Ireland’s horsey county in mind, “to reflect the idea of a stud farm”; this stud farm has a children’s play area, a gallery space housing painting and photography exhibitions, and the newly opened Dunne Crescenzi restaurant, L’Officina.
“It’s just a very comfortable, easy place to be,” says McGovern. The same can be said of your couch at home, yet Irish shoppers are getting off theirs to make their way to Kildare Village, and in greater numbers than ever.
ANOTHER EXPLANATIONis that all of the shops located in Kildare Village are outlet shops, selling only the previous season's collections, excess stock, manufacturing overruns and, occasionally, seconds, but at prices vastly discounted from the original recommended retail prices.
“The minimum discount has to be 33 per cent,” explains McGovern. “On average, we’re up to 60 per cent off across all of the brands.” Extras such as children’s entertainment and local tourist services are added benefits (the Village even runs a free shuttle bus to the National Stud), but, in penny-pinching times, the prices are surely the biggest draw for people familiar with the concept of outlet shopping from boom-time trips abroad.
“Most Irish people are very outlet savvy,” admits McGovern. “Seventy per cent of the customers that visit this village have been to other outlets, most of them in the US, so they’re very aware of brands.”
Banbridge’s The Outlet works on a similar model to Kildare Village, but has had a few added advantages to attract an increasingly cash-strapped clientele.
“We’re experiencing the same trend as Kildare Village, but we understand that it is to a more inflated degree because we’re in the North,” says the centre’s manager, Euan Forbes. “The Outlet has reported year-on-year sales growth of 21.5 per cent whilst the average shopper [here] is spending 13.5 per cent more in the same period.” Significantly, a big boost has come from Republic of Ireland customers – according to Forbes, car counts from the Republic are up 83 per cent year-on-year, while in December 2008 traffic from the Republic was up 150 per cent.
The upsurge in spending may have more behind it than recession-busting prices, however. “You’ve got the Vat difference – we’re 6 per cent cheaper,” says Forbes, “and you’ve got the exchange rate strength.” Yet the prevailing climate has had an effect on how people spend money, as Christine Watson, the centre’s marketing manager, explains.
“You’ve got people who bury their head in the sand, carrying on spending regardless. Then you’ve got people who are brand loyal, who don’t have the money to buy full-price, so they’re waiting for sales, looking for it on eBay or looking to outlet shops,” she says.
MANY OF THEbrands on offer, which include GAP, Nike, Jaeger and Marks & Spencer, are trading stronger than their counterpart stores throughout the UK, says Forbes. And the Irish shoppers just keep coming.
Not every outlet destination, however, is reporting buoyant sales. “We certainly wouldn’t be experiencing a growth in footfall or a growth in sales,” says Paul Sherry, centre manager at Killarney Outlet Centre. “Certainly people are looking for more value, there’s no two ways about that, but people are being very cautious with their money.”
While products at the Killarney Outlet Centre go for 30 per cent below the recommended retail price, these days discounts like that can be found on the high street too. “There’s great value out there everywhere at the moment, whether it’s in an outlet centre or on the high street. People have a lot of choice.” However, says Sherry, being an outlet store alone won’t save a retailer these days. “People aren’t predisposed to spending money at the moment, that’s it in a nutshell.”
Yet they’re still spending at Kildare Village, which McGovern believes is helped by the fact that parent company Value Retail has been doing this for some time in outlet “villages” all over Europe. “It’s hassle free, and that’s important today.”
