High-end retailer Brown Thomas is objecting to plans for a make-over of the Victoria Secrets outlet on Dublin\u2019s Grafton Street to make way for “a premium beauty retailer specialising in prestige skincare, cosmetics, fragrance and wellness products\u201d.<\/p>\n
Owner of 28\/29 Grafton Street, businessman Eamon Waters\u2019s Huntstown Bioenergy UC last month lodged companion planning applications with the city council for the overhaul of the Victoria Secrets Grafton Street outlet that includes upgrades to the shopfront.<\/p>\n
This followed the American lingerie brand\u2019s decision to move from its flagship Irish store from Grafton Street to retail units 1 and 2 at 40-43 Nassau Street.<\/p>\n
However, in an objection lodged with the city council, Brown Thomas Arnotts Operations Director Mark Limby has called on the council to refuse planning permission for the overhaul of 28\/29 Grafton Street.<\/p>\n
Limby has told the council that the application, if permitted at the scale proposed, would represent a disproportionate and undue additional concentration of a single retail category – cosmetics and beauty products – on the street contrary to retail-mix and higher order retail policies in the City Council\u2019s Scheme of Special Planning Control for Grafton Street and Environs.<\/p>\n
The Huntstown Bioenergy UC planning documents do not name the \u2018prestige\u2019 cosmetics firm to occupy 28\/29 Grafton Street.<\/p>\n
But it was reported in May that the new occupier is to be luxury beauty brand Space NK, where it plans to relocate from its current, smaller premises at 82 Grafton Street<\/p>\n
The move by the US-owned Space NK to open its flagship Irish store on Grafton Street follows soaring revenues at its Irish business, where revenues more than doubled here from (Sterling) \u00a32.86 million to \u00a37.23 million in the 12 months to the end of March 2025.<\/p>\n
In its most recent 48 week reporting period to January 4th 2025, Brown Thomas Arnotts Ltd recorded group revenues of \u20ac319.3 million and in the BT objection.<\/p>\n
Limby contends that the applicant\u2019s survey of existing dedicated cosmetics and beauty retail offer on Grafton Street materially understates the existing beauty and cosmetics retail offer on Grafton Street.<\/p>\n
Limby states that the survey names only Space NK, Sculpted by Aimee, Kiko Milano and Rituals and Limby said that it should also include Brown Thomas which has its own dedicated beauty hall, Boots, Hickey\u2019s Pharmacy, Marks & Spencer and Holland & Barrett.<\/p>\n
Limby states that \u201cBrown Thomas submits that the existing concentration of beauty and cosmetics retailing on Grafton Street is significantly higher than the (applicant) report suggests, and that the application, if permitted at the scale proposed, would represent a disproportionate and undue additional concentration of a single retail category on the street\u201d.<\/p>\n
Limby points out that Brown Thomas is recognised as a landmark business integral to the character of Grafton Street in the Council\u2019s Scheme of Special Planning Control for Grafton Street and Environs.<\/p>\n
He said that therefore Brown Thomas \u201chas a direct and material interest in ensuring that development on the street is consistent with this established character and with a balanced retail offer and makes this submission in that context\u201d.<\/p>\n
Limby states that in the alternative to refusing planning permission, Brown Thomas requests that the Council seek further information requiring the applicant to submit a corrected and complete assessment of existing cosmetics and beauty retail provision on Grafton Street, prior to any determination of the application.<\/p>\n
A planning report drawn up for applicants by planning consultants, Brock McClure states that the upgrade of 28\/29 Grafton Street will improve the architectural quality of the building, strengthen its contribution to the streetscape and reinforce the vitality, attractiveness and commercial success of Dublin City Centre.<\/p>\n
Brock McClure states that the new facade for the building “represents a substantial improvement over the existing arrangement\u201d.<\/p>\n
The planning report states that the proposed interventions will deliver a contemporary, high-quality retail frontage that responds positively to the scale, character and architectural rhythm of Grafton Street.<\/p>\n
A decision is due on the application next month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"High-end retailer Brown Thomas is objecting to plans for a make-over of the Victoria Secrets outlet on Dublin\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-609091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}