Forestside Shopping Centre (better known as Forestside) is located in Newtownbreda

Newtownbreda

Newtownbreda is an electoral ward of the Borough of Castlereagh in Northern Ireland. At one time "Newtownbreda" referred to a small village to the south-east of Belfast. However, it is now part of the Greater Belfast conurbation and Newtownbreda now tends to refer to the wider area from Hydebank to...

 in the southern suburbs of Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

, Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. The first phase of the centre, the 39000 ft2 Sainsbury's store, opened in March 1997. The popularity of the centre has exceeded expectations with traffic congestion a problem in peak trading seasons. Sainsbury's was obliged to pay for extensive roadworks on the A24

A24 road (Northern Ireland)

The A24 is a major road in Northern Ireland; running from Belfast, through Carryduff and Ballynahinch to Clough, near Newcastle where it meets the A2....

/A55

A55 road (Northern Ireland)

The A55 road forms Belfast's outer-ring road. It links many of the main arterial routes within the city as well as creating a bypass of the often congested city centre and problematic A12 Westlink...

 junction.

History

When Sainsbury's announced its move into the Northern Ireland market on 20 June 1995, the Newtownbreda site was one of seven identified for future stores. The site was then occupied by Supermac which, when it opened in 1964, was Northern Ireland's first supermarket. Supermac had planned to redevelop the site itself in a £30 million project, however a company director pointed out that the it would be in the position of being at the peak of its overdraft at the same time as facing competition from Sainsbury's as it opened its first store in Northern Ireland. The Irish Times quotes the director as saying "That was a situation we didn't find particularly acceptable."

Planning permission for the Sainsbury's store was granted in early February 1996 and construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony a week later. The Sainsbury's store was built on the northern part of the roughly triangular site which was unoccupied as part of the Supermac complex. Sainsbury's first annual report after the store opened in March 1997 noted that the store was "trading far above expectations".

Sainsbury's paid £1.75 million for an alcohol sales licence for its off-licence in the centre. However this allowed Sainsbury's, with just two off-licences open in Northern Ireland in 1997, to capture 6% of the market. In January 1998 The Grocer

The Grocer

The Grocer is a British market leading magazine devoted to grocery sales, published by William Reed Business Media. It has been published since 1862. Its readership encompasses every aspect of the industry, from directors of the large multiples to independent retailers...

reported that sales at the Forestside off-licence were £140,000 a week.
As the first stage opened work continued on the final stage of the shopping mall, 31 small units and two other large stores occupied by Marks & Spencer

Marks & Spencer

Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...

 and Dunnes Stores

Dunnes Stores

Dunnes Stores, also known as Dunnes, is a supermarket and clothing retail chain, that is based in Dublin, Ireland.The chain primarily sells food, clothes and household wares. In addition to its main customer base in Ireland, the chain has operations in Great Britain and Spain...

. The total floor space of the centre is 250000 ft2 the southern part of the which stands on the site of the Supermac supermarket. The architects of the centre took advantage of the large east-west gradient of the site to build underground car parking and service access. Sainsbury's opened a petrol filling station at the same time as the supermarket, on the site of the demolished Drumkeen Hotel.

In October 1997 Sainsbury's announced the forward sale

Forward contract

In finance, a forward contract or simply a forward is a non-standardized contract between two parties to buy or sell an asset at a specified future time at a price agreed today. This is in contrast to a spot contract, which is an agreement to buy or sell an asset today. It costs nothing to enter a...

 of Forestside to the Universities Superannuation Scheme

Universities Superannuation Scheme

The Universities Superannuation Scheme is a pension scheme in the United Kingdom. Its members include academic and academic-related staff in many United Kingdom universities, mainly those that were universities prior to 1992...

 (USS) for approximately £50m. The sale was completed following completiton of building works in September 1998, with Sainsbury's taking a 125 year lease for its store. In January 2001 USS sold the centre to Foyleside Ltd. for £70 million. Foyleside Ltd. owns Foyleside in Derry and the Abbey Centre in Newtownabbey.

On 23 November 2006 Marks & Spencer announced a £35 million investment in its Northern Ireland business, £8 million of which was invested in its Forestside store. This involved remodelling, the addition of a second floor to add 22000 sq ft (2,043.9 m²) and a multi storey car park.

Current Stores

• Sainsbury's (Opened in 1997 before Mall)
• Sainsbury's Off Licence
• Marks & Spencer (Renovated in 2008 and opened a new second floor)
• Marks & Spencer Cafe (Opened 2010, outside M&S and Cafe Laurent, was originally planned to be inside M&S)
• Dunnes Stores
• The Carphone Warehouse (Moved to current unit after JD Sports closed, previously located at the 3 Store premises)
• Yankee Candle
• Clarks
• A Wear
• New Look
• Next
• River Island
• Dorothy Perkins
• Wallis
• Evans
• HMV
• Game
• Molton Brown
• 3 Store
• Boots Opticians
• Medicare
• Northern Bank
• Clinton Cards
• House of Fragrance
• Warehouse
• H.Samuel
• Goldsmiths
• Boots
• Oasis
• Monsoon
• Argento (Re-placed Bijou)
• Vodafone
• Cafe Laurent
• McGee's Butchers
• Thomas Cook
• Peter Mark Hairdressers
• UPS
• Marlowe Drycleaners

Notable Former Stores

• Faith -Closed 2009
• JD Sports -Closed 2008
• Bijou -Closed in early 2000's. Replaced with Argento
• Going Places -Closed in 2009. Replaced with Thomas Cook