A Wear to invest €1m in Cork

FASHION retailer A Wear plans to invest e1 million in a new Cork shop at Mahon Point and relocating its existing shop at the Wilton shopping centre.

The company, which is owned by the upmarket department store group Brown Thomas, said yesterday that the store in the 250,000sq ft Mahon Point will open next February and will create 15 jobs in an investment of €500,000.

The remaining money will be spent relocating A Wear’s existing store at Wilton to the new part of the Tesco side of the Wilton site next month.

This will double the size of the Wilton outlet.

A Wear says with the expansion and redevelopment it will now have 21 shops across Ireland with three in Cork.

Alan Carroll, the head of operations at the company, said the business has performed strongly in a very competitive market and will look at further expansion.

“Our strategy has been to aggressively take on our competitors by increasing our number of new stores, a prime example being the opening of A Wear Mahon in 2005 and also by ensuring our existing stores provide the ultimate shopping experience for our customers.

“Redeveloping A Wear Wilton is perfect example of our commitment to this. Both A Wear Wilton and Mahon will be much more exciting retail experiences for Cork shoppers,” he said.

Cork could also be in a line for a major new bar and restaurant development, with a British pub operator on the verge of completing the purchase of a site in the city.

Ultimate Leisure was reported at the weekend to finalising the purchase of a site and investing €2.3 million in redevelopment.

The company did not disclose the location of the site, but it will be large enough to hold up to 1,200 people over two floors. The club is expected to open in March next year.

Ultimate Leisure, which is based in Newcastle, already owns a number of pubs in Belfast and had also looked at purchasing sites in Dublin, Waterford and Galway before finally picking up the premises in Cork.