08 February 2024 , 08:40
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Primark is set to open five new stores over the next two years as it marks 50 years on the Great British high street.
The first new store will open in Bury St Edmunds on March 6, followed by Teesside Park and Glasgow Fort later this year. Primark has also confirmed two new locations in Epsom, Surrey, and Newbury, Berkshire, which will open from 2025.
In an update today, the discount retailer said it plans on investing more than £100million in its UK stores, including some of its biggest store extensions. Its London Westfield Stratford store will almost double in size to more than 81,000sq ft to become the second largest Primark in the capital.
Primark Metrocentre in Gateshead, Tyneside, will be increased to almost 80,000sq ft of total shopping space once reopened later this year. The new stores and extensions will result in almost 700 new jobs. The fashion chain also plans on relocating Primark stores in Bradford, High Wycombe and Bolton to new and improved sites, while a further 15 locations will be refurbished.
Primark’s decision to invest in shops proves it thinks there is plenty of life in the high street. The Daily Mirror has been doing its bit with a long-running High Street Fightback campaign. Primark’s success comes despite not selling clothes via a website. Instead, it uses online to plug ranges, show availability, along with some click and collect from stores.
'I swapped my make-up bag for Primark products and was blown away by the dupes'
Kari Rodgers, UK Retail Director at Primark said: “We’ve changed a lot in the 50 years since we opened the doors on our first store in Great Britain in Derby back in 1974, but at our heart, we are still the same. We’re as committed as ever to offering the very best value on the high street and making great fashion more affordable and accessible for everyone. This latest investment will mean bigger and better stores, hundreds of new jobs across the country and shows our ongoing commitment to the UK high street.”
Primark opened its first store, trading as Penneys, in Dublin, Ireland, in 1969 and its first store in England opened in Derby back in 1974. Primark now has 192 stores across the UK.
Primark new stores
- Bury St Edmunds
- Teesside Park
- Glasgow Fort
- Epsom, Surrey
- Newbury, Berkshire
Primark stores being refurbed this year
- Oxford Street East
- Bury
- Cwmbran Shopping Centre,
- Southport
- Yeovil
- Barnstaple
- Hackney
- Newry
- Birkenhead
- Hounslow
- Chelmsford
- Stockport
- Telford
- Chester
- Cambridge