Lidl has opened a new, multi-million euro store in Fortunestown, Dublin after four months of construction.
The previous store suffered severe damage during Storm Emma when it was attacked during blizzard conditions in March.
The store reopened to the local community at 8am this morning.
The newly rebuilt store has increased in size by 70%, from 997m2 to 1698m2 in floor space.
The new store also boasts 50% more parking spaces, additional tills, wider shopping aisles as well as a new training room facility and extended welfare area for employees.
The new store is powered by green electricity and is certified to ISO50001 energy efficiency standards. The store also offers customers free use of a number of electric vehicle charging points.
Lidl Ireland recently announced its commitment to the introduction of electric vehicle charging points to all new stores and across all major store refurbishment projects.
This announcement means that Lidl will provide the largest network of electric vehicle chargers in the Irish supermarket sector, enabling customers to charge their electric vehicles free of charge whilst they shop.
After the previous structure was destroyed in March, each of the Fortunestown team members were redeployed to other Lidl stores in the area.
The team along, with nine new employees, have now returned to the store along with store manager, Ruth Shanley.
"On behalf of the entire store team, I'd like to extend our thanks to our loyal customer base in Fortunestown for their level of support over the past few months," Ms Shanley said.
[quote]We recognise that our service and store team have been greatly missed by the local community and we are delighted to welcome everyone back today.[/quote]
To celebrate the reopening of the store, Lidl welcomed representatives and students from local school, Scoil Aoife, to collect a donation of 1,000 to go towards the school and the hard work that they do.
The Fortunestown team are part of the 450 people employed by Lidl in the immediate area in five stores and a head office in Tallaght.
Across the island of Ireland, Lidl employs 5,000 people.
