Irish fashion brand Primark to launch eight retail stores in the U.S.

The leading Irish clothing brand, Primark, tries to break through in the U.S. market this year. On September 10, it will open its first store in Boston, which will followed by seven other locations across the country.

Retailing Today reported that the Dublin-based fashion brand, Primark, had leased a 677,000 square-foot retail center in Lehigh Valley Industrial Park VII, Pennsylvania to supply eight U.S. stores it will launch starting this year. The distribution center will be managed by Exel; a North American supply chain logistics to control the operation in the warehouse and to manage the transportation of the merchandise to the stores.

Dan McNutt, Exel SVP of Retail is excited to work with Primark. "With Exel managing the distribution center and transportation services for Primark, the company can focus on their customers," the SVP said.

Primark's first U.S. store will launch on September 10 in Burnham Building Boston, Massachusetts.  The store will have 84 fitting rooms. Five hundred mannequins will be put on display around the store. Some of it will be presented at the 1000 square-foot exhibit section in the front row to show off Primark's most popular outfits.  

The second location will be at the King of Prussia in Philadelphia on November. And on track are six outlets to be fully operational next year, including Connecticut and Staten Island, New York.   

According to the Boston Irish, Primark Director of Business Development and New Markets Breege O'Donoghue said the company recognized the Americans are not aware of Primark; that they offer affordable and high quality fashion pieces. So they plan to open stores in the U.S. in high-urban areas where there are large numbers of customer footfall. Specifically, they choose Boston because of its European setting.

Primark will hire 550 part-time and full-time retail workers for the merchandising and upper management.

The top fashion brand is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods. The Guardian informed that Primark has been operating for 46 years now. It opened its first store on Mary Street in Dublin, Ireland under the name Penneys in 1969. Primark has 300 stores spread across Europe.

Certainly, Primark had built solid supporters outside the country for over four decades in the industry, but on top of that, the European brand still has a lot to prove. There are still so much to learn about the American market until the stores were opened.