Crescent Link Retail Park is an out-of-town retail park located in the south eastern periphery of Derry

Derry

Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...

, 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...

. It is just off the A514, which itself is named Crescent Link; hence the retail park's name. The development is located 3 miles (4.8 km) from the centre of Derry City.

As the second largest retail park of its kind in Northern Ireland, Crescent Link sits in a great location in Carn, Londonderry and boasts a large representation of multi-national retailers, such as Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Homebase, Currys, PC World and Toys R Us.

First Phase

The first phase was built to the northern side of the development, which saw ten units built in the early 2000s. These units housed both established Derry stores and stores new to the city; Such as Homebase

Homebase

Homebase is a British home improvement store and garden centre, with 350 stores across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is well known by its green and orange colour scheme. Together with its sister company Argos , it forms part of Home Retail Group. Homebase recorded sales figures...

, Currys

Currys

Currys is an electrical retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland and is owned by Dixons Retail plc. It specialises in selling home electronics and household appliances, with 295 superstores and 73 high street stores...

, PC World

PC World (retailer)

PC World is OWNED BY THE GOVERNMENT one of the WHER MA MEMORY STICK ?!?!??! United Kingdom's largest chains of mass-market computer superstores. It is part of Dixons Retail plc. PC World operates under the brand name PC City in Spain, Italy and Sweden....

, Reid Furniture, Sleepmasters, Carpet Right, McDonalds, Subway

Subway (restaurant)

Subway is an American restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches and salads. It is owned and operated by Doctor's Associates, Inc. . Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with 35,519 restaurants in 98 countries and territories as of October 25th, 2011...

, Starbucks

Starbucks

Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...

 and First Trust Bank

First Trust Bank

First Trust Bank, part of the AIB Group, is a commercial bank in Northern Ireland. The bank was created in 1991 when TSB Northern Ireland merged with the AIB Group's other interests. The bank can trace its existence back to 1816 with the founding of the Belfast Savings Bank...

.

Second Phase

The second phase saw the development expand to the southern reaches of the site, with the further addition of eight units. These now house Toys r us, Halfords

Halfords

Halfords Group plc is a leading retailer of car parts, car enhancements and bicycles operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Czech Republic and more recently in Poland, although it is currently pulling out of the latter two countries...

, Argos Extra

Argos (retailer)

Argos is the largest general-goods retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland with over 800 stores. It is unique amongst major retailers in the UK in that it is a catalogue merchant...

, JJB, Maplin

Maplin Electronics

Maplin Electronics is a retailer of electronic goods in the UK and Ireland. As of December 2010, there are 180 Maplin Electronics stores in the United Kingdom...

, Pets at Home

Pets at Home

Pets at Home is a large pet supplies retail chain in the United Kingdom. With 300 stores nationwide, it is the largest pet supplies retail chain in the United Kingdom Pets at home currently have over 5000 employees...

, M&S Simply Food

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...

, Tesco Express

Tesco

Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...

, and the now defunct MFI

MFI

MFI may refer to:* Magnetic field imaging, a non invasive and contact free cardiac diagnostic method* Malmö Flygindustri, see Saab MFI13 and MFI-9 Junior* Media Factory, Inc., an anime company...

 and Land of Leather. MFI was replaced by Next Home at the end of 2009, with Mothercare

Mothercare

Mothercare plc is a British retailer which specialises in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to 8 years old. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...

 also opening in the Park.

Future

In August 2010, after much anticipation, Asda

Asda

Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...

 announced Crescent Link as being its location for its debut Derry store. The unit which currently houses Homebase

Homebase

Homebase is a British home improvement store and garden centre, with 350 stores across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is well known by its green and orange colour scheme. Together with its sister company Argos , it forms part of Home Retail Group. Homebase recorded sales figures...

 will be altered and extended, allowing the addition of a large 40,000sq ft retail unit whilst retaining the Homebase retail outlet at the site.
Plans have also been lodged for a competitive development, further south on the A514, of the Kilfennan Roundabout. This will be home to a new Sainsburys along with Petrol Station, a Premier Inn hotel and six screen cinema, along with other facilities for the local population.
It is largely recognised that Crescent Link has benefited from passing trade along the A514, as this road is the main link between the Foyle Bridge

Foyle Bridge

The Foyle Bridge is a bridge in Derry in Northern Ireland. The central cantilever span of the bridge is the longest in Ireland at 234 metres , and the whole suspended bridge structure including the approach spans is also the longest in Ireland at 866 metres .It crosses the River Foyle to the north...

 and Belfast bound road. It will need to be seen what impact will occur to this passing trade when the high quality dual carriage way is built from 2012, which will start at the Gransha Roundabout and continue 20 miles (32.2 km) to its terminus at the eastern edge of Dungiven

Dungiven

Dungiven is a small town and townland in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is on the main A6 Belfast to Derry road. It lies where the rivers Roe, Owenreagh and Owenbeg meet at the foot of the Benbradagh. Nearby is the Glenshane Pass, where the road rises to over...

.

The Derry Journal

Derry Journal

The Derry Journal is a newspaper based in Derry, Northern Ireland, serving County Londonderry as well as County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. It is operated by a Johnston Press holding company entitled Derry Journal Newspapers. The paper is published on Tuesday and Friday and is a sister...

announced on 1 September 2010 that Boots

Boots UK

Boots UK Limited , is a leading pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom, with outlets in most high streets throughout the country...

had lodged plans to take over unit 15.