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| Manor West Retail Park Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland Tel: +353 (0)66 719 0755 |
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>> To the Manor is born a positive outlook for year ahead The Irish Times - Friday, January 13, 2012 Ciarán Hancock ONE MORE THING: AMID THE doom and gloom in the Irish retail sector, the operators of the Manor West retail and leisure complex in Tralee are at least trying to project a positive outlook for 2012. “Things are tough, but if you don’t have a positive frame of mind then you are setting yourself up for a difficult year,” centre manager Derek Rusk told me this week. Rusk said Manor West’s footfall was up 3 per cent in 2011, helped by the snow and ice of late 2010 not being repeated last month. Free visits to Santa in the run-up to Christmas probably helped, too. About 90,000 people a week are visiting the 27,870sq m (300,000sq ft) complex in Kerry, which claims to have the cheapest service charges for a large shopping centre in Ireland. I Its roster of tenants includes Debenhams, Tesco, TK Maxx, Next, Smyths Toys and Lifestyle Sports. Manor West, which was developed by the locally-based Boyle family, celebrated its 10th birthday in November. It used the occasion to launch its first centre-wide gift card in partnership with Mastercard. It can be used in other shopping centres, including Liffey Valley in Dublin and Cork’s Mahon Point. Rusk is in talks with a British electrical retailer to fill the one remaining vacant unit at the shopping complex. “ We’re nearly over the line but they haven’t put pen to paper yet,” he said. Rusk said its service charges will remain at their current low levels. The centre is charging €3.60 per square foot in the main centre. Some rivals charge up to €12 a square foot. “ Proper cost management will help the tenants to weather the storm.” His hopes for 2012? “It’s a matter of just providing the best possible experience for the customer. “We’re trying to consolidate what we have to get through what is likely to be a very testing year.” Back to top |
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