Luxury department store Harvey Nichols will go head-to-head with Brown Thomas at the high end of the retail market when it opens for business at the Dundrum centre, Dublin 14, on September 23rd, the group said yesterday.

The €10 million opening of its 32,000 square foot "boutique store" comes at least five years after the group first explored the possibility of entering the Irish market. While group commercial director Patrick Hanly said the chain was unable to find a site large enough in central Dublin, he said the wealth in the southern suburbs was "very attractive" to the group.

"Dublin is a congested city and we felt that a lot of people would feel they could for the first time do their shopping without going to the centre of town."

Mr Hanly said Harvey Nichols would not have been able to "make a statement" in the city centre with the size of store now in preparation without a presence beside Brown Thomas on Grafton Street. "In terms of how we relate to Brown Thomas, there's no doubt that we, Harvey Nichols, would definitely see their customers as potential customers for us.

"But there's no doubt that from what we know of the Dublin market that there's more than enough room for another upmarket, upscale retailer."

Mr Hanly said that "a few hundred" of the group's account holders at Knightsbridge, London, were based in Ireland. About 210 staff will be employed in the three-storey store, which will include high fashion footwear, cosmetics and accessories. There will also be a café, bar and restaurant.

With high fashion brands such as Versace and Jimmy Choo in stock, the store will also sell personalised fashions in a range that he described as "demi-couture".

Mr Hanly grew up on a farm in Ballingarry near Roscrea in Co Tipperary. He has been in the retail business since he left Ireland in 1966. With Harvey Nichols since 1987, he spent the 1970s in South Africa.

"We have a number of exclusive brands. In fact we're majoring on quite edgy fashion, new brands, some of them are really quite emerging," he said.

Mr Hanly said the Harvey Nichols restaurant will rate with any of the top restaurants in Ireland. With main courses priced from €25, to tasting menus at €100, he said the wine range will be priced at €45-€7,300 per bottle. "Our wine list, I believe, will exceed anything available in Dublin in any restaurant."

He said the Dundrum centre was in a "period of build" that would continue for about a year. "It's too large to be an instant success. . . You have to change people's shopping habits."

He dismissed speculation in the retail trade that the group had second thoughts about its Dublin opening. "It was absolute nonsense. We completed a deal that sees us here for many years. We've had no reason to change our minds."