UK department store John Lewis has announced that it will open its first store outside of the UK in the proposed Dublin Central shopping centre in the city's O'Connell Street.
The new shopping centre is set to open in 2013 and is being developed by Chartered Land, which is behind the Dundrum Shopping Centre and the Pavilions Centre in Swords. It also owns the Illac Centre in Dublin, 1 as well as the South King Street development and the Grand Canal Square development.
800 new jobs are promised in the €50m five floor store.
John Lewis currently operates 27 department stores across the UK. It also owns 193 Waitrose supermarkets and Greenbee, a new direct services company.
The new shop will sell clothes, home furnishings, audio visual equipment and home technology.
The new O'Connell Street development covers a 5.5 acre area, stretching from O'Connell Street to Moore Street and from Henry Street to Parnell Street. The proposals for the development include a mixture of residential and retail development along with three new public squares and two pedestrian streets. There will also be a rooftop restaurant area.
Back in 2004, John Lewis considered opening up a store in Tallaght, but decided instead to locate it at Sprucefield in Lisburn, Co Antrim.
