Tesco and M&S to reopen Douglas stores in weeks

Anchor tenants at centre devastated by fire committed to opening stores in November

Anchor tenants Tesco and Marks & Spencer are committed to reopening their shops in Douglas Village Shopping Centre, which was damaged by fire just over a year ago. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

The two anchor tenants at the Cork shopping centre which has been closed for over a year following a devastating fire say they are both committed to reopening their outlets within weeks.

Retail giants Tesco and Marks and Spencer said they are both working closely with the management team of Douglas Shopping Centre, on the city's southside, to ensure their outlets are ready to open in line with the shopping centre's target opening date in early November.

A week after the first anniversary of the fire, Tesco Ireland said it is liaising with staff from its Douglas store, who were redeployed to other Tesco outlets after the fire, about the reopening.

A spokesperson for the company said it is “really excited” about the reopening of Douglas Shopping Centre.

“As anchor tenant in the Village Shopping Centre, we’re working closely with the management of the centre and remain totally committed to our presence in Douglas and the Cork area,” she said.

“At the moment we’re working with our colleagues who were redeployed to our sister stores in the Cork area, to support their return to the Douglas store."

A spokesperson for Marks & Spencer said it is also committed to reopening their store in the shopping centre.

“We are committed to re-opening our M&S store in Douglas Village Shopping Centre in November and we are working in close co-operation with the centre management team to make this happen,” she said.

She declined to comment on what staffing arrangements may be in place, or whether former staff will be rehired.

Fire broke out in a car which was parked inside the shopping centre’s multi-storey car park on August 31, 2019.

The fire spread rapidly to adjoining cars before it engulfed the entire floor of the car park.

The heat generated by the blaze was so intense that the car park floors buckled and steel girders melted.

Firefighters battled for hours to bring the blaze under control, managing to prevent it from spreading to the adjoining shopping centre complex itself.

Works continue on the rebuild of Douglas Village Shopping Centre. 

But the extensive structural, smoke and water damage forced the closure of the entire shopping centre complex.

Almost 50 retail units, most of them family-owned, had to close.

Up to 50 cars which were parked in the car park at the time of the blaze were also destroyed.

PJ Hegarty and Sons was hired to rebuild the car park and repair the shopping centre, but the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the initial August 2020 reopening date.

A big push is on now to have the centre reopen on November 12.

Separately, the owners of the shopping centre, Avoncore Ltd and Canmont Ltd, trading as the Douglas Village Shopping Centre, are suing several parties for more than €30m in damages, claiming that an allegedly defective Opel Zafira car went on fire.

The Commercial Court was told in July that the costs of demolition and rebuilding of the car park, associated business interruption and other aspects of repair are expected to exceed €30m and the calculation of the amount for loss and damage suffered is continuing.