ORIGINAL SHOPPING CENTRE

December 2006: I was very much surprised to come across a "Ghost Shopping Centre" in Dublin.

I first photographed Dundrum in December 2006 and when I visited the original shopping centre and there were current Christmas Decorations and piped music but there were no traders or shoppers. All the shops displayed notices indicating that they had ceased trading or that they had relocated. My sister, who owns property including a shop, explained to me that it is possible that while all the shopkeepers may have abandoned the shopping centre they are still obliged to pay rent until the leases run out.


WHAT I SAID IN DECEMBER 2010:

In 1965 the first shopping centre in Ireland was built within 100 yards of my home. Many years later the second shopping center opened in Dundrum and suddenly, Dundrum became a town, rather than a village, with a supermarket, clothes shops, a coffee shop and a record shop. We in Stillorgan were not impressed because our shopping centre was better (and in reality it was much better).

The original shopping centre in Dundrum was badly designed and there were many problems but despite this it survived until around 2005 at which time it had very few active tenants and it was not in a position to compete with the huge new centre just up the road.

Recently I heard that the old shopping centre was scheduled to be demolished and rebuilt as phase two of the Dundrum Town Centre (the new shopping Centre). Now that the country is going through a financial crisis this is unlikely to happen.


Wikipedia: In 1971, Dundrum was one of the earliest places in Ireland to open a purpose-built shopping centre (the first being in Stillorgan). A much bigger shopping centre opened just south of Dundrum on 3 March 2005. Known as Dundrum Town Centre it contains within the complex one of the largest cinemas in Ireland, opened in early October 2005. The plans for the old shopping centre includes space for hotels, apartments and more retail outlets. However this has been postponed and the older retail units have been leased to new tenants such as Lidl, Classic Furniture, Mulvey's of Dundrum. Recently the old Dundrum Shopping Centre has been rebranded Dundrum Village Centre.

The opening of the new shopping centre in Dundrum in 2005 led to the decline of the previous shopping centre which closed in early 2009. However renamed Dundrum Village the shopping centre reopened its doors later that year and has since grown to offer its customers a wide variety of shops and brands.