Ireland's Primark going gangbusters in U.S.
As mall department stores fade, the Dublin, Ireland-based Primark stores are snatching up some of their prime spots up and down the Northeastern seaboard.
As mall department stores fade, the Dublin, Ireland-based Primark stores are snatching up some of their prime spots up and down the Northeastern seaboard.
"It has been very encouraging," Primark's group director of business development, Breege O'Donoghue, said Wednesday in an interview at the Rittenhouse Hotel. "We have gotten very positive customer feedback. Footfall and sales densities have increased steadily as awareness of the Primark brand continues to grow."
She declined to give specific numbers, but hinted that sales bode well for upcoming store openings.
O'Donoghue had just arrived with her ownership team from Dublin, with a day stop in Center City, on their way to Danbury, Conn., where the third American Primark will open Friday.
The first American Primark opened in Downtown Crossing in Boston last fall, and the second debuted just before Black Friday last year at the King of Prussia Mall.
Three more are set to open this year, including stores at the Willow Grove Park Mall and Freehold Raceway in New Jersey. Another three will open next year, including at American Dream Mall in the Meadowlands, N.J., and a 10th store whose location has not been announced is coming in 2018.
It is no coincidence that Primark is filling space once occupied by Sears in seven of the nine American mall locations.
Traditional anchors, such as Sears, JC Penney, and Macy's, have been shuttering hundreds of stores in recent years as their sales waned.
Mall owners such as Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, which owns Willow Grove Park Mall, are looking to increase foot traffic and replace the fading anchors with such newcomers as Primark.
Ironically, Primark is known as Penneys throughout Ireland.
O'Donoghue said the brand has caught on quickly because of its value and product range. "We offer affordability, choice, a nice, entertaining event," she said.
Globally, Primark has more than 300 stores in 10 countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, France, and most recently, Italy, where a store opened in April. It employs about 60,000 people.
Primark follows other international retailers that have made a mark here by targeting mainly millennials. These include H&M of Sweden, Zara of Spain, and Uniqlo of Japan - known collectively as "fast fashion," or high-volume, value-oriented retailers.
Using the marketing slogan "Amazing Fashion, Amazing Prices," Primark boasts that it sells a million pairs of socks daily worldwide.
Is more U.S. growth coming? "We can't say," O'Donoghue said. "We will study what we learn from the market and go from there."
"Fast-fashion giants, like Primark, have been able to capture on-trend styles, generally inspired by high fashion, and get it out to market very quickly at a super-approachable price point," said Douglas Green, managing principal of MSC Retail Inc. in Center City. "Of course, given the low price, these tenants must drive very high volume, which is why you are seeing the Uniqlos, Primarks, H&Ms, and Forever 21s of the world gravitate toward regional enclosed malls and downtown urban cores."
James Cook, Americas director of research and retail for Jones Lang LaSalle, predicted last year that Primark may someday dominate U.S. fast fashion. He was just as bullish Wednesday.
"Primark is coming to America at a perfect time," he said. "Primark can make its name in the U.S. because it offers the absolute lowest prices around, yet still manages to stay on the edge of fashion and design."
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East Coast Locations
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Shopping malls on the East Coast where Primark is leasing space that used to be Sears stores:
King of Prussia Mall (Pa.)
Willow Grove Park Mall (Pa.)
Freehold Raceway Mall (N.J.)
Danbury Fair Mall (Conn.)
Staten Island Mall (N.Y.)
South Shore Plaza Mall (Mass.)
Burlington Mall (Mass.)
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