Value fashion giant launches first Georgia store
A fast-fashion giant that hails from Dublin, Ireland, will launch its first Georgia store next month as it continues to spread across the U.S.
Primark is set to open Sept. 8 at Sugarloaf Mills in Lawrenceville, taking 26,000 square feet at the mall. A second Georgia location is expected to follow in Augusta.
Primark is known for big stores stacked with low-priced. trendy clothing, along with home and beauty products. For example, a spokesperson said women’s denim starts at $12, and men’s tees at $5.
The retailer expands to Georgia as some consumers feel stretched thin by overall higher prices. U.S. retail sales fell 0.6% in July, the first decline in nine months.
Primark competes with other fast-fashion brands such as Zara and H&M but does so through physical stores only. The retailer has no e-commerce business.
Founded in Ireland in 1969, Primark now operates more than 480 stores in 19 countries across Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East.
Primark first ventured to the U.S. in 2015; the new Lawrenceville store marks its 47th location in the country.
But its reception in the U.S. has been mixed, George Weston, CEO and executive director of Associated British Foods, the parent company of Primark, said on a July 1 conference call.
“U.S. trading … has bounced around a bit,” he noted.
For example, Primark opened a flagship store in Manhattan this year, which “has got off to an absolute flyer,” Weston said. But elsewhere in the U.S., the brand is less well known, he said.
“We opened a store in Memphis, one in Nashville,” Weston said. “They have been, quite frankly, disappointing.”
One reason, Weston said, is that Hispanic shoppers are pinched. “Their consumer expenditure is well down,” he said. “And even where we are well known to them … their purchasing power is just really squeezed.”