The Lidl store in west Dublin destroyed by looting and vandalism during Storm Emma last March has reopened.
The Fortunestown store in Tallaght has been rebuilt and on Thursday it reopened, six months after looting caused significant damage. An excavator damaged part of the building during the looting.
The rebuilt store is 70 per cent larger and existing staff have been joined by nine new recruits.
Prior to the looting the German retailer had secured planning permission from South Dublin County Council for a larger store at Fortunestown and the rebuild project had been due commence in May.
Lidl said the rebuilding and expansion project was more complex due to the looting and added a couple of weeks to the project.
‘Massive shock’
During the rebuild, staff from the Fortunestown store were relocated to other stores. Ruth Shanley, the Fortunestown store manager, said the looting was “a massive shock” to staff.
“I live in Kildare so I was at home at the time. Our first priority was the staff and making sure that everyone was ok and safe and then obviously the customers.
“I’m just so excited to get back working with the team. We’ve been separated the last couple of months so it’s nice to be all back together.”
The first customer through the doors was Maura Brown (80) from Citywest.
"I'm delighted because it is so near especially when you're getting on in years, like I am," she told The Irish Times.
“I was at home having a cup of tea with my son the night it all happened. It was very sad, I was shocked. How anybody could do that, I don’t know and the staff are so kind, they help everybody.
“I said to them I’d bring over a little bottle of holy water for them to leave on their tills and they said ‘that’s a good idea Maura’. Please God they’ll have great luck now.”
‘Missed a lot’
Vincent Cojocaru from Tallaght said he and his parents had missed the store.
“I drive, but my mam and dad don’t, so they’ve been relying on me to bring them [shopping],” he said.
“We live around the corner so we missed it a lot. I couldn’t believe what happened to it. Everybody was unhappy, this shouldn’t have happened and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.”
Marian Leonard, from Citywest said she was “absolutely delighted” the store had reopened.
She said she was “disgusted and annoyed” by the looting. “Everyone pulled together in the snow and then for that to happen.”
Ten men appeared at Dublin District Court earlier this year facing a range of charges in connection with the raiding and looting at Lidl and a break-in at a nearby Centra.
One case of trespassing has been dismissed, while the other nine are still before the courts.
Separately, gardaí in Tallaght said they are continuing to investigate a robbery at the Fortunestown store on the morning of August 11th, when a large amount of copper piping and wire were removed from the premises.
