The brand opened its first Irish location last year
14:59, 13 Jan 2026Updated 15:07, 13 Jan 2026
Danish retailer Normal is getting ready to open in Cork city centre(Image: Thomas Lawrance )
Normal is on a roll, opening another Irish location – this time in Cork city. The trendy Danish retailer is breathing some new life into Queen’s Old Castle after six years of the former Argos location sitting empty.
The brand describes itself as selling “completely normal products at abnormal prices” with a range of everything from branded cleaning and beauty products to snacks and homeware. The store adds 100 new items to the shelves every week as the retailer encourages shoppers to “go treasure hunting” for bargains.
The first Irish Normal store opened to huge fanfare in Dublin’s Ilac shopping centre in November, and the discount brand are already planning a second location in the capital.
Here in Cork, shoppers can look forward to the new Normal store opening in the city centre in the coming weeks. It will be a big change for Grand Parade, where the corner unit beside Dealz has been vacant since 2019.
Over the last few months, the large retail unit has undergone a full fit out as the chain, which has hundreds of locations across Europe, gets ready to continue its major Irish expansion.
In Dublin, there were queues down the street for the grand opening of the first ever Irish Normal shop, as the brand gave away 1,000 surprise goodie bags to early shoppers, and the first people in line received a €30 gift card.
It will be a very welcome addition to the Cork high street, which has welcomed a number of new brick-and-mortar shops recently, including Urban Outfitters in September last year and the return of HMV just before Chirstmas, while luxury beauty brand Rituals is set to open two new shops including at the Roches Stores building.