This article is from page 4 of the 2008-04-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
THE nine members of Ennis Town Council have been told that €327 million in retail spending will be lost each year by Clare to adjoining counties if additional retail space is not provided in Ennis.
Consultants for Clare GAA, ad- vancing the case for the €350 mil- lion RiverSide Quarter in Ennis, state that currently €271 million is being lost each year to other coun- ties as consumers leave Clare to shop elsewhere.
Currently, the level of retail leakage is 62 per cent, they say. The consult- ants estimate that if additional retail Space is not provided in Ennis, this leakage will rise to 75 per cent by 2013 as aresult of the amount of new retail space coming to the greater |Biiintoule arts
However, the consultants state that if the RiverSide Quarter proceeds, the level of retail leakage to adjoin- ing counties will reduce to 30 per cent. This will translate into an ad- ditional €140 million being spent by consumers in Clare each year.
The biggest threats to Ennis are major new retail developments in Limerick, The Coonagh Cross cen- tre is set to increase its space from 20,000 sq m to 28,000 sq m, while the new Opera Shopping Centre in Limerick city centre is to provide an additional 28,000 sq m. It will start to trade in 2010.
The report also refers to the growth of the Crescent Shopping Centre which, the consultants state, has been transformed into the “regional retail attractor in the mid-west”.
The consultants estimate that there
is currently 55,000 sq m of retail Space in Ennis, but admit that the sector 1s lopsided as there has been a large expansion in retail warehous- ing.
The consultants state that the devel- opment will significantly increase the footfall in the town as it will make the whole of Ennis a destination lo- cation for shopping in the Midwest.
The document also promises easy pedestrian access from O’Connell S15 Koro e-0 016 a0) Lane] OReel ROO Kol OO suring strong commercial synergies with the existing retail facilities.