JEWELLERY chain Pandora is set to expand its presence in the north with two new stores.
It’s understood the Danish retail giant is due to open at Belfast’s Forestside and Enniskillen’s Erneside shopping centres.
Pandora currently has just four standalone stores in the north, but it has a long-standing relationship with the Argento chain, which is an authorised retailer of its jewellery products.
Four years ago, Pandora bought 26 UK stores from Argento owner Pete Boyle.
Last year, the company reopened its flagship Belfast store at Corn Market as a self-owned operation. It also set up shop inside Derry’s Foyleside, which shares the same ownership as Forestside.
At the time, the company announced its intention to continue expanding its retail operation across Northern Ireland.
Now Pandora is set to go head-to-head with Argento, which already operates jewellery shops in both Forestside and Erneside.
Pandora is actively recruiting staff for the new Forestside business, which will take over the unit vacated by Patisserie Valerie last year.
It’s understood the Danish jewellery retailer is also close to securing a unit in Enniskillen, inside the Erneside complex.
READ MORE: Jewellery retailer Pandora to reopen in Belfast city centre
READ MORE: Forestside and Foyleside shopping centres put up for sale
Argento currently runs 23 stores, including 17 in Northern Ireland.
The Belfast-based company is set to open its next new store in Cookstown.
The company is currently seeking planning permission to alter the front façade of a former shop unit on William Street.
London-based private equity firm Kildare Partners put the Forestside and Foyleside shopping centres up for sale last month.
Almost a decade after paying £135m for both shopping centres, the company is prepared to offload both assets for less than £72m.
