IRELAND’s FIRST NIKE UNITE IS NOW OPEN

New community focused store opened today – spanning over 10,000 sq ft

Follows 3 hugely successful openings at Blanchardstown Centre, including the largest Zara in Ireland, luxury department store FLANNELS and a new flagship Bershka

Nike Unite, the latest retail concept from iconic sports brand Nike, today opens its doors at Blanchardstown
Centre, Dublin’s largest retail and leisure destination. The first store of its kind in Ireland, Nike Unite puts the community first, aiming to help local people connect with sport. The unit features an in-store community wall, celebrating Dublin athletes and sporting achievement, as well as local landmarks and partnerships.

The new store is the latest expression of the global Nike Unite store concept, a local home court for members and the most valuable destination for sport.

The Nike Unite Blanchardstown Centre store will offer an innovative shopping experience for customers through their Interactive Service Desk. The service desk offers wide range of online to offline services such as click & collect, digital orders returns and self-service checkout and more.

The store is designed to be a reflection of the heart and spirit of Blanchardstown Centre with design elements that honour local landmarks and local athletes. Nike Unite Blanchardstown encourages everyone to get moving. Whether it’s supporting local schools and non-profit groups that give children more opportunity to stay active, or the Nike Community Ambassador program that trains store employees to be coaches, Nike is bringing the community together.

Nike Unite Blanchardstown will be a space dedicated to serving and celebrating the community through in-and-out-of-store experiences. With unrivalled access to the best of Nike, all customers and their families will gain access to new season stock that has been locally curated at great prices.
Nike Unite will be partnering with Special Olympics Ireland. Special Olympics is an internationally renowned organisation whose vision is to drive and support a quality year-round sports programme that is embedded in local communities. 

Signed on a ten-year lease, the store spans 10,000 sq ft in total and caters to all – stocking Nike’s latest sports, fashion and footwear ranges for men, women, teens and kids. It will serve to strengthen Blanchardstown’s athleisure offer – situated next door to JD Sports’ flagship store and adjacent to popular brands such as Lifestyle Sports, Skechers and Schuh.

The store is the latest in a string of recent openings at Blanchardstown. A number of well-known household names – including Bershka, FLANNELS and Zara – have also opened at the centre in the last few months, resulting in notably strong footfall – up 8% YTD on 2022. April was a particularly busy month at the centre, being the busiest month in terms of footfall over the past five years. The strong flow of deals reflects resilience of the Irish market, as well as the strength of the offer for brands at Blanchardstown centre.

Blanchardstown Centre is Dublin’s largest retail and leisure destination, covering over 1.1 million sq ft in total. The centre has benefitted from an extension and extensive refurbishment process over the last two years. This investment has succeeded in attracting a host of new international and local brands, and centre occupancy currently stands at 98%.

Blanchardstown is Dublin’s third largest urban area, popular with urban professionals and young families, with one of the fastest growing populations in Ireland. Catchment currently totals 1.9m. The town enjoys excellent transport connections – sitting on the M50 ring road and N3 motorway, eight miles from Dublin city centre, 15 minutes from Dublin airport and on a total of 20 bus routes.

Sharon Walsh, Leasing Director at Falcon AM, asset managers for Blanchardstown Centre, commented:

“We’re incredibly excited that Nike has chosen Blanchardstown Centre for the opening of Ireland’s first Nike Unite store. A compelling in-store experience is increasingly important to consumers and this new concept speaks directly to that. The community focus and experiential element offers something different – and will act as a real draw.

“Alongside a host of other exciting signings over the past 12 months, today’s opening attests to the resilience of Ireland’s retail market and the ‘prime’ space the centre offers.
“Occupancy remains high and we have seen strong footfall since the beginning of the year – as customers visit the centre to enjoy our diverse mix of retail and leisure brands.”

END

For further information, please contact

info@blanchardstowncentre.com

About Blanchardstown

Blanchardstown Centre (BTC) is Ireland’s largest retail and leisure destination, in operation for over 25 years, first opening its doors to visitors in 1996.

The estate has significant scale, covering 85 acres in total – including the main shopping centre, surrounding 2 retail parks and external retail units, as well as EBAY’s European HQ

BTC provides over 1.1 million sq ft of functioning retail and leisure space, with 188 shop units, as well as 5,600 parking spaces on site. It is home to market-leading mix of retail brands, anchored by Dunnes, M&S and Aldi on the grocery side, and Penneys on the comparison goods side – with other household names already on site including H&M, Zara, Hollister, Mango and Flannels.

BTC also boasts a growing leisure and F&B offer – with an Odeon cinema, theatre and arts space, bowling, gaming offer, as well as an extensive selection of restaurants and cafes on site.

BTC enjoys an annual footfall of over 16 million and draws from a large catchment of 1.9 million.

The asset was acquired by Goldman Sachs Asset Management in 2020, who appointed Falcon AM as lead Asset Manager, with Global Mutual acting as advisors. Colliers and Bannon are the retained leasing teams for the Blanchardstown Centre.