The official kit supplier to both the Irish women’s and men’s football teams, and to Leinster rugby, is to open a new flagship retail outlet on Grafton Street in Dublin city centre. Premium sportswear brand Castore’s new shop will be in the Grafton Buildings at 34 Grafton Street. Other tenants in the block include fashion retailer Jigsaw and athleisure brand Sweaty Betty.
Manchester-based Castore, founded by Liverpool-born brothers Phil and Tom Beahon in 2016, is one of the fastest-growing global retail brands and was reported to have a value of £750 million in 2022. Sponsorship deals with numerous of the world’s big football, rugby and formula-one racing teams have underpinned the company’s rapid growth, as have more recent deals with leading tennis, golf and boxing stars. In March it was announced that Castore would become the new official FAI kit suppliers to both the Irish women’s and men’s national football teams. News of the deal came just five months after the women’s team made history by qualifying for the upcoming Women’s World Cup finals in Australia.
Castore’s new Dublin shop, its first in the city centre, will occupy a high-profile corner location at the junction of South Anne Street. The premises extends to 200sq m (2,150sq ft) and is set over two trading levels with more than 17m (55ft) of retail frontages. Castore is set to pay an annual rent of about €300,000 and is believed to have seen off competition from a number of other international retailers who were seeking to secure the space. Castore is just the latest addition to Grafton Street’s tenant line-up; Lego, Canada Goose, Russell & Bromley and Dr Martens have all recently opened new flagship retail shops there.
Larry Brennan, Savills European head of retail, advised Castore, while Eoin Feeney, Colliers retail director, acted for the landlord, an Irish institutional property pension fund.
