Sligo shopping centre’s ‘green’ new look after €1m makeover

Located on O’Connell Street, Sligo this retail hub has undergone a complete reimagination with a strong focus on sustainability.

Lush greenery and trees have revitalised the interior, solar panels are being installed to provide renewable energy, and a dedicated initiative supports local businesses and artists.

The centre has seen an uptick of 9% in footfall over the last quarter in 2023 compared to the same quarter last year.

Embracing this ethos, The Canopy is thrilled to host VOYA and photographer Eddie Lee for an exclusive Christmas pop-up shop.

VOYA and Eddie Lee will be located in the creatively designed, transparent cubes that sit outside Boots along the main thoroughfare of The Canopy.

Immerse yourself in luxury with VOYA at The Canopy from Friday 1st December.

VOYA’s pop-up shop will offer luxury organic products for the body and home and gift vouchers.

In keeping with The Canopy’s vision for sustainability VOYA helps to protect the biodiversity of the west coast of Ireland’s reefs through the sustainable and traditional harvesting practices of their core ingredient seaweed.

Their products are packaged using recycled, recyclable, or biodegradable materials – voyaseaweedbaths.com

Photographer Eddie Lee will also pop-up at The Canopy. He is an Irish landscape and portrait photographer based in Sligo.

The inspiration for Eddie’s work comes primarily from the wild Atlantic coast where he has spent all his life, and Sligo’s Neolithic landscape of mountains, lakes, hills, valleys and cairns regularly features in his work.

Eddie is also passionate about night sky and astrophotography, taking advantage of the few clear nights the west of Ireland offers up.

The Canopy is also calling on other local artists and musicians who would like to take over the cubes in 2024 to host an event, create a mural, play a gig. Think outside the cube. This is a creative space and they want to hear from you.

The Canopy welcomes a sustainable Santa from Friday 1st December.

Santa will be at The Canopy every Thursday to Saturday from 3.00pm to 6.00pm until Saturday 23rd December.

There will even be mulled wine and mince pies for the adults (in conjunction with Hargadons Bros).

Santa at The Canopy has become a beloved tradition of the shopping centre, and if you ever get the chance to meet him, you’ll know he’s the real deal.

And this year as a nod to The Canopy’s sustainability efforts, Santa has promised to only gift climate-kind, minimal-waste toys. Santa has teamed up with Irish eco toy store Jiminy.ie to help with this task.

Santa and The Canopy want to ensure each child will receive an eco toy that will come in plastic-free packaging, minimising their trash footprint.

The Canopy’s iconic Santa is local volunteer Robert McDaid who foregoes his fee each year and instead, the fee is donated to Sligo Cancer Support Centre.

The Canopy has always and will continue to have Santa in the centre for FREE.

Donations are gratefully accepted for the North West Hospice which provides palliative care services for people with life limiting illnesses.

The Canopy has raised over €38,000 over the last few years through this Santa project.