Major fashion retailer revives Laois store expansion plan

A major fashion retailer has revived its plan to double the size of its Laois store, and possibly double the number of jobs.

The company behind Penneys is applying to Laois County Council to amend its expansion plan at Laois Shopping Centre in Portlaoise.

It is over two years since Lindat Limited got the 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 and did not go ahead.

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

The new store would be 2991 square metres (33,000 square feet), with another 257 square metres of back-of-house space for staff. It is currently 1,454 sqm.

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

When 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.