Alo Yoga enters Irish market, with plans lodged for Grafton Street outlet

Alo Yoga's stores are mainly US based. It is now entering the Irish retail market and is planning to set up its first store on Dublin’s Grafton Street.
Picture: Alo Yoga

High-end yoga apparel retailer and favourite of celebrities, Alo Yoga is entering the Irish retail market and is planning to set up its first store on Dublin’s Grafton Street.

The Los Angeles-headquartered Alo is an acronym for air, land and ocean, and is often worn by celebrities such as Taylor Swift, Katie Holmes, Hailey Bieber, and Kendall Jenner.

Now, Alo Yoga Ireland Ltd has lodged an application to revamp 62-63 Grafton Street and a letter to Dublin City Council from architect, Deirdre Dolan from SSA Architects on behalf of Alo Yoga, which states that Alo Yoga “is a globally recognised brand known for its contemporary yoga apparel and lifestyle products”.

Ms Dolan said that “they are entering the Irish market and are opening a new store at 62-63 Grafton Street”.

She also pointed out that “the brand has a modern and sleek aesthetic and they want to ensure that this new store reflects this. To achieve this, it seeks to update the existing shopfront to align with Alo Yoga’s contemporary branding”.

Ms Dolan said that the alterations planned “are designed to enhance the visual appeal of the premises while maintaining the character of Grafton Street”.

The owner of 62-63 Grafton Street is family family-owned retail giant, Dunnes Stores and Property Director at Dunnes firm, Better Value UC, Mark Clifford has provided a letter of consent allowing Alo Yoga Ireland to lodge the planning application.

The brand’s stores are mainly US-based but the opening of the Grafton Street outlet follows on from Alo Yoga’s first store in the UK on London’s King Road last November.

The company will be hoping to get a slice of the athleisure boom here — a competitor in the yoga apparel market, Lululemon increased its revenues here by 30% to €12.8m in the 12 months to the end of January this year as its pre-tax profits almost doubled to €473,577.

Lululemon opened its stand-alone flagship store on Dublin’s Grafton Street in the final quarter of 2021 at 84 Grafton Street, in premises formerly occupied by retailer Pamela Scott.

The move by Alo Yoga follows on from two other international retailers lodging plans in recent weeks to open up new outlets on Grafton Street.

In August, fashion retail giant, Mango lodged plans with Dublin City Council to carry out works to open its new store at 112-113 Grafton Street.

In July, a unit of Italian-owned make-up group, Kiko Cosmetics Ireland Ltd lodged plans for a new outlet at 23 Grafton Street.