The move comes as the company said it no longer enjoys “frictionless trading” with EU countries.
Sports-fashion retailer JD Sports has announced it is to open a warehouse in Ireland this year in order to avoid Brexit-related disruptions and tariffs.
In its final results for 2020, published on Tuesday, the retailer said that it no longer enjoys tariff-free “frictionless trading” with EU counties since Brexit.
It explained: “As a consequence, we are now incurring some duties and disruption from customs checks on the transfer of goods from the UK into EU countries.”
While the retailer said it had been able to reduce its exposure to “the adverse consequences of Brexit” by opening an 80,000 square foot warehouse in Belgium, the site did not provide a solution for either online orders or products destined for Ireland.
As a result, JD Sports is currently fitting out a 65,000 square foot warehouse near Dublin which will become operational in the second half of 2021.
The retailer is also continuing to review opportunities for a larger permanent facility in Europe that can process the volume required for stores and online orders in mainland Europe.
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