Council to invite Penneys to Cavan!

Cavan County Council is to write to Primark bosses asking them to open a Penneys store in Cavan Town.

Fianna Fáil's Sarah O'Reilly has placed a motion on the agenda of this afternoon's February monthly meeting of the local authority on the issue. He asks: 'That Cavan County Council investigate/invite Penneys Clothing Store to open a premises in Co. Cavan and to assist in the search of a suitable site.'

The motion follows the recent sale of a large chunk of Cavan Town to an investment fund for close to €3M with hopes for a regeneration of the town centre.

There had been some hope back in 2013 that Penneys might come to Cavan Town. It followed the grant of planning permission to Tesco for a new €30M superstore at Townspark and Tullymongan Lower. Speculation at the time was that once Tesco built and moved to the new premises, it would free up the existing unit for Penneys. The superstore has, as of yet, not commenced with Cavan County Council recently extending time to Tesco Ireland to complete the development up to 2023.

Meanwhile, group sales at Penney’s owner Associated British Foods (ABP) increased four per cent year-on-year in the 16 weeks to January 6.

The performance was driving by increased sales in the company’s Primark clothing chain, with Primark achieving record sales in the week before Christmas.

Since the company’s financial year end, its retail selling space has increased by 300,000 sq. ft. and, at January 6, the company had 350 stores trading from 14.2 million sq ft, which compared to 13.1 million sq ft a year ago.