Men's revamp at Brown Thomas

Dublin department store Brown Thomas has opened a new menswear department and revealed a year-on-year sales uplift of 10% for the year ended February 2008.

Chief executive Nigel Blow said he was very happy with the sales increase, as it came after strong growth in 2006/07 when sales were €250 million (£199.9m) and pre-tax profits were €24.1m (£19.2m).

The new 30,000sq ft menswear department has been relocated from the ground floor of the store to the basement. It is part of a €15m (£12m) investment over the past 12 months, which has also seen the ground floors of both the Irish company's Cork and Galway stores refurbished.

Brown Thomas is owned by Galen Weston's business Whittington Investments, which also owns Selfridges and Canadian department store chain Holt Renfrew. As well as its Dublin store the retailer has three stores in Limerick, Cork and Galway, as well as three BT2 stores – a smaller, branded fashion format for younger shoppers.

Blow is considering opening a second Brown Thomas store in Dublin as part of the redevelopment of the city's north side.