Watches of Switzerland opens Tag Heuer ’boutique’ in Dundrum – The Irish Times
UK-based retailer Watches of Switzerland plans to open its first store in Ireland with a Tag Heuer ’boutique’ in Dundrum town centre.
The new store is part of the London-listed retailer’s plan to open mono-brand boutiques across Europe, allowing customers to book private one-to-one in-store appointments when purchasing a watch. The 1,475 square foot store will be positioned across from the Brown Thomas unit on Level 1 and is expected to open in February 2023.
Commenting on the new lease, Connor Owens, Hammerson’s Managing Director of Asset Management (Ireland & Scotland), said: “The arrival of Watches of Switzerland, a first for Ireland, strengthens Dundrum Town Center’s position as Ireland’s premier shopping and leisure destination… The new Tag Heuer will be well received by Dundrum customers.”
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Watches are becoming an ever larger part of the Irish retail landscape. Earlier this month, the Irish Times announced that Paul Sheeran Jewelers had struck a deal with investment group Hines to lease the entire ground floor of a new Chatham & King development near Grafton Street, where it plans to sell watches in separate boutiques from some of the biggest luxury brands for sale, including Cartier, Breitling, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Panerai.
Separately, Irish clothing brand Gym+Coffee, endorsed by singer-songwriter Niall Horan and probably best known for their hoodies, is planning to expand its presence in Dundrum by moving into a unit adjacent to the mall’s north entrance on Level 2 is moving ft Store scheduled to open in September. Gym+Coffee opened its first brick and mortar store in Dundrum in 2017.
Hammerson, the UK property group that co-owns Dundrum with Allianz and also operates the city centre, said the move with Gym+Coffee is part of its strategy to “identify digitally native brands and give them the opportunity to grow their business and their customers.” to expand base through a physical space”. It named Millies, 4th ARQ and Paperchase as other Irish brands “incubated” at Dundrum.
Dundrum Town Center is home to more than 169 tenants, almost 140,000 square meters of floor space and around 3,400 parking spaces.