Primark finds capital site for expansion

Tag : Designer Ladies Clothing
by Christmas.

The city is thought to have been the Irish company's prime targetin the UK for a new store for more than two years.

Primark's absence from the city has been a major headache forretail leaders in Edinburgh, as the company has four large storesin Glasgow, as well as branches in Aberdeen, Stirling and Dundee.

Primark is now in final negotiations to take over the former Marks& Spencer store at 91 Princes Street.

Topshop tycoon Philip Green snapped up the site 18 months ago,before eventually pulling out of plans to refurbish the building,which has about 100,000 sq ft of space over six floors.

His Arcadia company has instead opted for a revamp of its existingstore at 30 Princes Street.

One source said: "A deal is in the very final stages. M&S still ownthe building so a leasing agreement has to be made with them, butit's been all but agreed.

"Primark has been desperate for a key site in Edinburgh for severalyears and nothing like this is going to come onto the market in thecity centre for another two to three years."

A spokesman for Primark said: "Edinburgh has been a major targetfor us and it's been something of an embarrassment that we have nothad a store in Scotland's capital city.

"We've been saying publicly for some time that it really is the oneplace where we are really keen to open a store.

"We cannot say anything about a particular site until everything isfinalised, other than to say our enthusiasm to open up in Edinburghis alive and well."

The last major boost for Princes Street came almost four years ago,with a development on the site of the former C&A and Burberrybuildings, now home to H&M and Mexx.

City retail expert Niall Macdonald, a director at property agencyJones Lang LaSalle, said: "Edinburgh has been Primark's number onepriority in the UK for a new location but they've just not beenable to find a suitable site to meet their requirements until now.

"This particular site offers several floors of retail space and isalso pretty central on Princes Street."

Fiona Moriarty, the director of the Scottish Retail Consortium,said: "It has been slightly odd that Primark hasn't been inEdinburgh until now, but it's probably symptomatic of the fact thatthe city just hasn't been able to provide enough good-qualityretail spaces in the last few years.

"Good sites very rarely come onto the market and when they do theyvery often are too old-fashioned for modern requirements."

Primark has more than 125 stores in the UK and Ireland, employingabout 15,000 people. It was founded in Dublin in 1969 and is ownedby Associated British Foods.

Earlier this month it emerged that Primark was consideringexpansion in Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands and Spain.

Shopping for cash-savvy fashionistas about town

POP the corks and pull on the polyester. Primark is coming toEdinburgh.

And about time too. For as every fashion-savvy woman this side ofthe credit crunch knows, Primark is the Valhalla of oh-so-stylishyet oh-my-isn't-it-affordable clothing. A place where you can snapup this season's taffeta prom dress, the latest short jacket and amock croc clutch bag and still have change left over for the bushome.

It's easy to be snooty about Primark, to declare that a store withsuch cheap clothing can't possibly offer anything of value for thestylish girl about town. But, really darling, that would be likecutting off your vintage buckle belt to spite your maxi dress.

Because the secret behind Primark is that it knows that yours won'tbe an exclusive relationship. It knows that when you're feelingflush you pop into Harvey Nicks, that your wardrobe contains theodd designer piece, the occasional bit of vintage and a garrison ofundies from Marks & Sparks.

But what Primark does is enhance that collection and in these lean,mean, economic times, make possible an outfit that otherwise yourwallet might collapse at the thought of.

A Primark outfit might not last forever, but in these days ofdisposable fashion, that's hardly the point.

A Kate Moss-esque star print dress, a YSL-inspired patent bag, thisseason's cocktail ring⬦ I could go on. Instead, I suggest youform an orderly queue, ladies. Mine's the mock croc clutch.