US-based video game retailer GameStop Corporation has taken five more Irish outlets for its Gamesworld subsidiary and has increased its expansion plans in Ireland.
The five leases include a shop on Henry Street in Dublin, for which GameStop is paying €270 (£186) per sq ft (€2,906 (£2,002) per sq m). GameStop is also paying €50 (£35) per sq ft (€538 (£377) per sq m) for a shop at the Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow.
The other three leases are at the Parkway Shopping Centre in Limerick, Donaghmede Shopping Centre in Co Dublin and Blackpool Shopping Centre in Cork.
GameStop now has a target of 46 stores in Ireland – up from a previous target of 34 – and 10 in Northern Ireland.
Last September, GameStop entered the Irish market by acquiring a controlling stake in Irish video game retailer Gamesworld, which had 11 shops and a distribution business – all in Ireland – prior to the takeover.
“This is the first phase of a major expansion plan in both the Republic and Northern Ireland,” said Lisa McGrane of Jones Lang LaSalle, which has been retained by GameStop to find suitable locations.
As well as video games, Gamesworld sells video game hardware, entertainment software and accessories for personal computers. It reported a turnover of €15m (£10m) in the year to the end of April 2003.
GameStop is quoted on the New York Stock Exchange and has 1,300 outlets in the US, with sales of €1.35bn (£931m) in 2002.
References: EGi News 21/01/04
