Galway Shopping Centre rated the most profitable in the country

Galway Shopping Centre on the Headford Road is more profitable than major centres like Dundrum, Jervis and St Stephen’s Green in Dublin, according to a new survey.

The research – carried out by Retail Excellence Ireland – surveyed 200 tenants who operate 600 stores in a total of 33 shopping centres across the Republic.

But while the Shopping Centre was the top performer in the country in terms of profitability, the Eyre Square Shopping Centre was listed amongst the worst performing retail schemes, being declared ‘unhealthy’.

According to the survey: “This review was conducted having sought feedback regarding scheme performance from multiple tenants. Scheme owners nor any other third party were not consulted in the course of conducting this review.

“Over two hundred shopping centre tenants who operate over 600 shopping centre stores participated in the review. Those shopping centres for which a reasonable tenant sample was unavailable were excluded from this review.”

Tenants who were asked if their store is profitable put Galway Shopping Centre as the most profitable in the country, scoring 5.75 out of 10, followed by Whitewater in Kildare at 5.72 and Letterkenny Shopping Centre at 5.67.

However, based on the scoring, they were only declared as ‘Marginally Profitable’ (7.51 or higher was required to be ‘Profitable’.

Included in the ‘Unprofitable’ category were Dundrum in Dublin, which was ranked in 14th place at 4.94; the Eyre Square Shopping Centre was in 18th at 4.6; St Stephens Green in Dublin was at 25.

In terms of ‘Overall Performance’, Galway Shopping Centre was in 9th place. Eyre Square Shopping Centre was ‘unhealthy’ in 18th place.