The murder on the high street shows no signs of abating as further bad news emerges from fashion retailers. German sportswear group Adidas, which a retail source said has shown interest in opening a stand-alone store in Dublin, announced last week that its profits in the second quarter were down an eye-watering 93% on last year. Net profit fell to €9m from €116m last year as operating profits fell, primarily due to currency devaluation, and profit margins fell 10%.

Adidas is not alone by any means – net profits at Polo Ralph Lauren are down nearly 20% in the second quarter and Gap's July sales were down 7% on the same month last year.

The aggressive discounting by fashion retailers shows no signs of abating.

What's also been noticeable is the length of time that the end-of-season sales have been on for. That said, most retailers have been effectively having sales all year as they try to shift stock. As Arnotts chief executive David Riddiford put it: "Discount is not the way to survive this recession," pointing out that it becomes a circular thing with everybody competing for the same business with smaller profit margins.

Only the likes of TK Maxx and Penneys are thriving in the current environment while the luxury end of the market has been hit particularly badly by the downturn as customers realise that retail therapy doesn't have to come in the form of a Hermes Birkin handbag.

Compounding the issue is the weather, leaving retailers with a surfeit of summer clothing when jumpers and heavy coats would have proven more attractive to customers with the inclement conditions that have characterised the last few months. It's not a small factor either. Philip Green, the British businessman who owns high-street staples ranging from Topshop to Miss Selfridge, has said that good weather can boost sales by 30% in the summer.

Recently, property advisers CBRE said that CSO figures showing an abatement "in the deterioration in the volume of retail sales" lagged the market because of the additional government taxation measures that came into force in May.

In particular, it hit the spend by the public sector, which anecdotally was one of the groups still willing to part with their disposable income because of job security. Initial sales figures for the year to July, which are due out in the next fortnight, are therefore unlikely to provide any succor to a sector that is open in admitting that it's on its knees. As a result, most fashion retailers will just be hoping that they haven't underperformed compared to the market as a whole.

The whole environment is complicated by the scramble by landlords for tenants as some go bust and more new space comes on the market. The Opera Centre in Limerick, which is half-owned by the taxpayer because of the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank, has gotten the go-ahead and Joe O'Reilly's Castlethorn Construction has decided to re-open the old Dundrum shopping centre with letting agents Bannon Commercial and Savills looking for tenants on a flexible lease basis so that the redevelopment can go ahead if it gets the thumbs up from An Bord Pleanála. Lidl has already signed up and will be paying an annual rent of about €500,000 for the 17,000sq ft former Tesco store, with the shopping centre's 300 surface car-parking spaces a key attraction.

There are retailers interested in opening here but deals are painfully slow and almost every lease involves an element of turnover-related rent while bank funding remains an issue for both landlords and those looking to expand. Tous, Cos, Tally Weijl, Apple, Gap, Diesel and Hollister are all looking at expanding or opening here while British chain Cult Clothing is also close to signing a deal in Dublin. British department store John Lewis, which also owns the Waitrose supermarket chain, is planning to open a number of new stores in Ireland. The retailer said earlier this year that it has identified up to 50 suitable locations in Ireland and Britain for a new format shop that would sell home and electrical goods.

John Lewis has already signed up to open a department store at Castlethorn's Dublin Central scheme on O'Connell Street in Dublin which is being appealed to An Bord Pleanála. So far however, it has not shown an inclination to bring its Waitrose supermarket chain into the Irish market.

At the moment though, that interest from overseas retailers is the only silver lining to what is a very dark cloud.