Budget-conscious British fashion retailer Primark revealed leases for two more Massachusetts locations in the Burlington Mall and South Shore Plaza today.
The new standalone Primark stores will lease large portions are already existing Sears locations. A Downtown Crossing location is set to open in the former Filene’s location in September, making the 70,000-square-foot, four-floor store the first Primark on U.S. soil.
The two new stores were announced by Sears Holding Corp. alongside five additional American locations, including the Danbury Fair Mall in Connecticut and Freehold Raceway in New Jersey.
Dublin-based Primark — sort of an H&M/Topshop/Zara super hybrid, if we’re going to honest — operates several several hundred locations in Europe, and opted to first break ground in Boston after long-circling the U.S. market. CEO Paul Marchand told MassLive, “We like the city, we think it’s young, vibrant. It has a combination of a local population combined with a strong tourism industry and a huge student population and we love that diversity.”
Primark is practically an institution in Europe, stocking low-priced fast fashion and staples from an in-house label at a steady, trend-driven pace. The U.S. locations will carry men’s, women’s, and children’s, and while Simon Property Group (which owns both South Shore and Burlington) refused to comment on a local level, CEO Richard S. Sokolov says Primark should provide an “excellent shopping environment” for both malls.
