Green light for a big overhaul of Portlaoise Penneys flagship in Laois

The decision has been made on whether the Penneys store in Laois can be doubled in size.

Laois County Council's planning office has given the green light to allow Lindat Ltd to do a huge expansion on its store at Laois Shopping Centre.

The doubling of the size of the Laois store, will potentially also double the number of jobs available there.

It is over two years since Lindat Limited first got a go-ahead to double the size of their only Laois Penneys store and put it over two levels.

The project was approved at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 but did not go ahead.

Last October, they have applied for a range of changes, making the shop even bigger.

The new store would be 2,991sqm (33,000 sqft), with another 257 sqm of back-of-house space for staff. It is currently 1,454 sqm.

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They also were granted permission to reorganise the two floors of retail areas planned, omit six planned rooflights and add a fire exit.

When last granted in 2020, the expansion was expected to be complete within nine months. Penneys recently opened a 28,000 sqft €12 million store in Carlow, with solar panels on its roof.