Times may be tough but Cork’s Mahon Point scheme isn’t taking the recession lying down. John Ryan goes to see how it’s wooing shoppers

Mahon Point, Cork’s edge-of-town shopping centre, opened in 2005 and at the time was hailed as a new landmark for Irish consumers. Located on the road into the city from the airport, by any standards it was a substantial development and one that brought a host of new retailers to this part of southwest Ireland.

But nearly half a decade later and midway through a financial crisis that has hit Ireland harder than almost any other country in Western Europe, how are the retailers that chose to take space in the scheme faring? 

The answer, according to centre manager Justin Young, seems to be that they are bearing up. “Our primary barometer is footfall and it was up 3 per cent in April,” he says. “But the market is tough.” He adds that downtown Cork, a few miles northwest of the mall, has suffered from parking charges as “people are increasingly price-sensitive”.

John Ryan visits Mahon Point in Ireland to see how retailers there are coping with the recession

However, Mahon Point retailers are not taking the recession lying down, with the great majority of them fighting back using a broad spectrum of promotions designed to convince shoppers that it’s still worth digging deep. And perhaps the most obvious instance of this is the euro for pound policies that are broadcast in the windows of most non-Irish retailers that have a presence in the centre. 

Young points out that UK retailers in particular have opted to pursue this line, as Cork’s shoppers are keenly aware that there is still a marginal difference between the British pound and the euro. If there is pricing parity between the two currencies in Mahon Point shops, it represents a discount on the UK price for Irish consumers and retailers, in theory at least, are sacrificing margin to drum up trade.

There are, of course, those that have dodged the issue. Zara has decided to price its merchandise solely in euros. Irish consumers might wish to compare prices but, in this instance, they can’t. Zara also happens to be one of the centre’s few retailers without overt promotional activity. That said, one of the elements that marks out Mahon Point from a UK shopping centre at the moment is that every other shop seems to have some kind of deal.

It’s also worth noting Cork is around three hours’ drive from the Northern Ireland border, so the cross-border shopping trips that have caught the attention of the media on both sides of the Irish Sea aren’t really an option. As such, the centre should enjoy unfettered access to shoppers from the Republic’s southwest, which Young says is the case.

And a quick scan of the cars in the free car parks outside reveals that most are indeed from the unpronounceable Corcaigh (that’s Cork to you and me), so the centre would seem to be hanging on to its shoppers. 

For home-grown Irish retailers, reductions seemed to be the order of the day. What is really interesting is how relatively unchanged this scheme is since it flung wide its doors close to half a decade ago. This would seem to indicate that in spite of extremely challenging conditions retailers are determined to stay the course. Young says that the service charge per square foot of space in the centre was reduced in February to under €10 (a 10 per cent cut), and that as well as the individual promotions undertaken by tenants, the centre management has launched a style adviser service, which is free as long as you spend €20 in the stores.

A brief shimmy around the shops revealed a wide variety of differing promotional tactics in use.

Next

There is an argument that Next is Next, whether it’s in the UK or Ireland, and that the same is true of all the expatriate traders that have stores in Cork. However, there is a difference between what you’ll see at Mahon Point and, say, Manchester or Mansfield.

The store trades from two levels and at the entrance a standee tells shoppers that “Following our euro review” there are “new lower prices” on offer. It might seem to imply that previously there were old higher prices. This might also lead to the conclusion that the pricing of the “new summer collection” is the result of Next having to alter its game plan in the Republic in response to its rivals’ actions and shoppers’ eagle eyes.

Whatever the case, there is less transparency about this than in some of the other UK retailers’ euro/pound communication efforts across the mall. All of which still does not distract shoppers from the fact that this is one of Mahon Point’s better-looking retailers.

The Perfume Shop

More for the same, in product terms, seems to be the overriding message at The Perfume Shop.

The modestly sized windows carry the message “THINK BIG”, with the rider that “bigger sizes” equate to better value. This is probably true, although shoppers are urged to ask in-store for details. The other point is that buying more of something still entails parting with more money, even if you are getting better value. And as a marketing message it is hardly revolutionary.

More straightforwardly, the window also contains a half-price offer, rather more to the point, and ramming home the discount-cum-low-price message that is so prevalent at Mahon Point.  

Tesco

A large Tesco is, along with Debenhams, Mahon Point’s anchor tenant and the point of sale banging home the “sterling price in euro” is ubiquitous in the store from the moment you walk through the door from the mall.

Overhead are signs featuring a red euro symbol being attacked by a pair of scissors, set against a blue background, with the legend “Save” beneath it.
And in case you miss this, more in-your-face messages are positioned on top of the many pieces of equipment in the general merchandise area. “€=£” is, once more, the overriding message, with category messages being appended “Clothing price match!”, for instance.

Supermarkets are well-known for their strongly promotional tactics and Tesco is among the best exponents of this. But if there were any doubts about the value message and the fact that this is an economy under pressure, a walk around this store would quickly dispel them.

Zara Accessories

The policy of not showing prices other than euros notwithstanding, Zara must take the prize for the most minimalist approach to display.

A large window on the mall’s upper level is stylishly white with vertical wooden slates filling half its length and being used to form a platform at the other. The silver legend ZARAaccessories discreetly indicates what this window is about and the logo’s promise is embodied by a display on top of the wooden platform. This has four – yes, just four – pieces on it: a straw hat, a canvas bag and two belts.

While the eye may certainly be forced to focus on these strangely lonely articles, no clue is offered about why they have been put there and there was even the suspicion that perhaps they had been put there and rather forgotten about.

Jane Norman

Glitzy and with accent lighting, Jane Norman’s interior certainly had its fair share of the centre’s younger shoppers, all eager to inspect the many rails of garments on offer at half price. “50% off” is probably the most unequivocal statement in the whole of Mahon Point at the moment and it remains a powerful draw for shoppers.

And in the best traditions of a true Sale, the chromed reduction rails are the first thing that the shopper encounters when staring beyond the store’s threshold. It’s still May and although there was a brisk northeast wind on the day of visiting, it was sunny and relatively warm outside. Yet most of the garments on offer could only be fairly described as high summer. Proof perhaps that trading is not all that, or equally that if you get it wrong in fashion, you really get it wrong.

Penneys

10 minutes by taxi from Mahon Point lies the mall’s greatest competitor, downtown Cork. And in the heart of the Republic’s second-largest city is St Patrick’s Street, the principal thoroughfare for retailers and home to, among others, Penneys – or Primark as it is known in the UK.

It’s lunchtime and the familiar wheeled and tiered vinyl-wood fixtures in the middle of the shop fill the ground floor. And all of them are merchandising disaster areas, piled high with inspected garments thrown back on top of them, defeating the best efforts of the staff to keep on top of things.

And although prices are low, even here shoppers are seeking out bargains on the €3 runner rail that partially fills one of the ground floor’s main aisles. That said, this is still the busiest shop in the city and, as elsewhere, acts as a magnet for cash-strapped, fashion-hungry consumers.

Mahon point

Opened February 2005

Location three miles from Cork city centre

Footprint 365,985 sq ft

Number of units 64, trading on two levels

Anchor tenants Debenhams and Tesco

Events and services Farmers’ market every Thursday; mall-based personal shopper service

Retail in Ireland: Why Irish eyes aren’t smiling