Dunnes’ first store in spectacular €30m revamp

WHEN Dunnes Stores opened its first store in Cork, World War II was being fought, Winston Churchill was preparing for D-Day, and food, clothing, petrol and nylons werebeing rationed. That was March 31, 1944.

Now 65 years on, Dunnes has 20,000 employees, 145 stores, and today will re-open its fledgling Irish shop after a €30 million-plus revamp. It has been done in the depth of a new emergency, money is tight, petrol is precious – and nylons are 10 a penny (well, €1.50 a pair in Dunnes).

The new store on Patrick’s Street has wide internal travelators to ferry shoppers around its four-storeys and 100,000sq ft of shopping, all the way up from the 22,000sq ft basement food hall, along miles of freshly stocked aisles to the top floor cafe.