News

UK fast-fashion player targets Boston for first of nine US store locations

The British retailer known for exceptional low prices plans to have nine stores up and running by the end of 2016.

September 14, 2015

Fast-fashion U.K. retailer Primark has opened its first U.S. storefront, choosing Boston as its inaugural location.

The store, which opened its doors late last week, inhabits a former Filene’s Basement locale in Downtown Crossing and encompasses four floors of 77,000-square-footage, according to a Wall Street Journalreport.

Primark’s arrival could ignite a fashion retail battle given the U.K. company is known for super thin margins and very high merchandise volume. Dresses can sell for as little as $8 and men’s blazers have been sold for under $50, according to the WSJreport.

That puts the U.K.’s in a battle with Forever 21, Gap and American Eagle Outfitters.

"Primark is definitely on people’s radar here," Simeon Siegel, a New York retail analyst at Nomura, told the WSJ. "It comes up in almost every conversation I have with investors."

The store’s staffers are U.K. employees and are training new U.S. employees on operations.

Bernstein analyst Jamie Merriman told the WSJ the Primark store will "have a significant impact on competitors."

The Boston location will soon have company as Primark expects to open a Philadelphia store in Nov., one of eight more stores to open by the end of 2016, according to WSJ, across New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Jersey.