Roches Stores

Roches Stores

Roches Stores was a national chain of department stores in the Republic of Ireland acquired by Debenhams in 2006.

Founded in Cork in 1901 by William Roche, as a small furniture shop, it grew to eleven stores throughout Ireland. As Debenhams it sells a wide range of goods, from cosmetics to houseware to clothes and stationery. It was for many years the only true department store chain in the country. Unlike its competitors, Roches Stores generally sold more branded items, particularly clothing. This lent it a more upmarket image than its competitors such as Dunnes Stores.

Up until the acquisition, the Roche family retained full ownership of the stores. A noticeably private family, they maintained a low profile in Ireland in contrast to other large store owners.

Demolition Of Frescati House

Roches Stores caused huge controversy in the 1970s and early 1980s when it demolished Frescati House in Blackrock, the home of Lord Edward FitzGerald. This is to this day still recognised as a major cultural loss to the Blackrock area and with the development of newer shopping centres in Dublin, the actual justification for a centre at Frescati has diminished with the memories of the chain. It is worth noting that at the time of the demolition of Frescati that even the rather ill fated planning department of Dublin Corporation, famed with their Wood Quay development was trying to gain an injunction against Roches Stores, within sight of such an action, the property was demolished after hours to prevent protesters from mounting a demonstration.

Withdrawal from food retailing

Formerly most of Roches Stores larger locations also had a supermarket on-site. In 1998 these stores became franchises of SuperValu, branded as "SuperValu at Roches Stores". However in 2005 most of Roches Stores supermarkets were closed down, the four remaining being operated as concessions - two (in Cork) by Caulfield/McCarthy, another SuperValu franchisee, and two (in Blackrock and Galway) by Marks and Spencer.

Acquisition by Debenhams plc

In July 2006, Irish newspapers reported that Roches Stores was in discussion with the British department store chain, Debenhams plc, with regard to a possible sale of the business. On August 8 2006, it was announced that Roches Stores' retailling business would be acquired by Debenhams for €29 m [ [http://www.debenhamsplc.com/deb/rns/rnsitem?id=1155024923nRNSH3780H Debenhams Plc acquire retail business of Roches Stores, August 8, 2006] ] . As part of the deal Debenhams acquired the retail business of 9 of the 11 Roches Stores operations - including stores at St. Patrick's Street in Cork, Henry Street in Dublin, Blackrock, Waterford, Tralee and O'Connell Street, Limerick - convert|500000|sqft|m2|-4|abbr=on of retailing space. Marks and Spencer plc had agreed to acquire the company's Wilton outlet in Cork, however that deal later fell through due to a dispute over rent with the owners of the centre. As a result both the Wilton store as well as the Nutgrove store (in Dublin) closed, along with the company's head office. As part of the deal, the Roche-family retained ownership of the group's property assets (the stores) and lease the premises back to Debenhams as their new tenant. The stores were rebranded as Debenhams, a move which will see the Roches Stores name disappear from the Irish high street in 2007, and which is causing a sadness of sorts among Irish consumers especially those in Cork.

In October 2006, Roches Stores placed adverts in the national newspapers advertising their latest sale as their "Closing Down Sale", beginning the process of transitioning to the Debenhams brand. Sections of stores were replaced with Debenhams stock, fittings, signage and designers such as John Rocha and Jasper Conran. The Limerick store was the first to be rebranded Debenhams, followed by Blanchardstown and Tallaght.

The St. Patrick's Street store in Cork was rebranded as Debenhams on 30 January, 2007. But the Roches Stores name will remain visible on the outside of the St. Patrick's Street store, the original Roches Stores branch, as it is sculpted on the wall over the large arch window over the front entrance. Many Corkonian consumers are pleased with this, and a large number of them still refer to the store as Roches Stores rather than Debenhams. However, it was a different story in Limerick where a Mosaic on the ground outside the Main Door was removed. This was to the annoyance of the Limerick People as they felt it would be the last known memory of 'Roches' and a keepsake for years to come.

In March 2007, Debenhams reported that all but two of the stores had been rebranded, and launched a major marketing campaign under the Debenhams name.

External links

* [http://www.debenhams.co.uk/ Debenhams]

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Roches Stores — est une chaîne de grands magasins irlandaise. En 2006 elle a été rachetée par le groupe de distribution britannique Debenhams qui exploite désormais les magasins sous sa propre marque. Fondé à Cork en 1901 par William Roche, Roches Stores n est d …   Wikipédia en Français

  • List of department stores by country — Contents 1 Africa 1.1  Ghana 1.2  Kenya 1.3   …   Wikipedia

  • Dunnes Stores — Type Private Industry Retail (various) Founded 1944 in Cork City Founder(s) …   Wikipedia

  • Dunnes Stores — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Dunnes Stores es una cadena de supermercados y tiendas de ropa que basa sus operaciones en la República de Irlanda. Contenido 1 Comercialización 2 Historia 3 Propiedad …   Wikipedia Español

  • Debenhams Ireland — Type Retailer Founded 1901 Headquarters Dublin, Ireland Products Fashion clothing, shoes, acc …   Wikipedia

  • Frescati House — Frescati (sometimes misspelled Frascati ) was an estate situated in Blackrock, Dublin, between the mountains and the sea. During the eighteenth century, Blackrock found favour with the well to do of Ireland and it grew into a fashionable seaside… …   Wikipedia

  • Retail in the Republic of Ireland — In the Republic of Ireland, the retail sector provides an important source of employment and forms the majority of the tertiary sector of the economy.upermarketsThe Republic of Ireland has two major supermarket chains: Tesco Ireland, a subsidiary …   Wikipedia

  • Henry Street (Dublin) — Henry Street ( Sráid Anraí in Irish) is located on Dublin s Northside and is one of the two principal shopping streets of Dublin (the other being Grafton Street), running from the Spire of Dublin and the General Post Office on O Connell Street in …   Wikipedia

  • Department store — A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer s personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price …   Wikipedia

  • Marks & Spencer — M S redirects here. For other uses, see M S (disambiguation). Marks Spencer Type Public limited company Traded as LSE:  …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”