Rushmere Shopping Centre
 | |
| Location | Craigavon, County Armagh, Northern Ireland |
|---|---|
| Opening date | 21 September 1976 |
| Owner | Killahoey Ltd |
| No. of stores and services | 65 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 1 |
| Website | https://www.rushmereshopping.com |
Rushmere Shopping Centre (formerly known as the Craigavon Centre) is a shopping centre in Craigavon, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, opened in 1976. The anchor tenant of the centre is Primark.
History[edit]
On 21 September 1976, Rushmere opened to the public as the Craigavon Centre, and the anchor tenants were Dunnes Stores and Crazy Prices. As of July 2024, Dunnes is the only tenant that remains open since the opening day, but it is no longer an anchor tenant.[1]
In 1998, the Craigavon Centre reopened as Rushmere as part of a major expansion with Debenhams becoming the new anchor tenant and Crazy Prices (which became a Tesco store during that time, now home to an Iceland store) and Dunnes were demoted into regular stores. The site was expanded again in 2004, 2018 and currently in 2024.
During the early 2020s, Rushmere had a major drop in footfall and tenants, seeing the closures of Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Debenhams and Sainsbury's, this was mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, the company behind Rushmere, Central Craigavon Ltd was placed into administration, Killahoey Ltd brought the struggling shopping centre from the company. On that same year, Primark opened on the ground floor of the former Debenhams.[2][3]
In the spring of 2023, Rushmere began a redevelopment scheme to save the centre, welcoming tenants such as MINISO, Subway and Waterstones. This redevelopment would include a redevelopment of the front entrance and the former Sainsbury's supermarket which would become a multi-use development including 3 retail units (with JD Sports being one of them), a gym, 3 restaurants and office space, an expansion of the east entrance and a new Lidl supermarket on the site of the former Sainsbury's petrol station. It would be completed by late 2024.[4][5]
When the redevelopment concludes, the number of tenants will increase from 65 to around 73 (including the adjacent retail park, office space and vacant units, but excluding kiosks, but if you count them, its around 77 or 78), becoming one of the largest shopping centres in Northern Ireland, only behind CastleCourt and Victoria Square.
Stores[edit]
Rushmere includes stores such as Argento, Argos, B&M, Boots, BPerfect Cosmetics, Card Heaven, CeX, Primark (anchor tenant), New Look, Waterstones, Dunnes Stores and TK Maxx, with places to eat like McDonald's and Nando's.[6]
References[edit]
- ^ Sherrard, Chris (2016-09-17). "Rushmere Shopping Centre archives take you down memory lane". Belfast Live. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
- ^ "Craigavon's Rushmere shopping centre sold to Killahoey Ltd". BBC News. 2023-02-02. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
- ^ "Doors open at new Primark store in Rushmere Shopping Centre - Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council". 2022-12-16. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
- ^ "Rushmere: £10m redevelopment of retail centre reaches milestone". The Irish News. 2023-12-07. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
- ^ "Rushmere owners launch bid to revive former Sainsbury's unit with six shops and restaurants". The Irish News. 2024-06-18. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
- ^ "Rushmere Stores | Rushmere Shopping Centre". 2022-04-11. Retrieved 2023-12-07.