Primark’s biggest US bet yet: a Manhattan flagship built on ultra-low prices

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The customer’s always journeying: Retail, like life, is about the journey—the customer journey, that is. In our State of Stores report, we dive into how retailers need to use every tool in their kit (including the POS) to meet the ever-expanding expectations of today’s shoppers. Read it here.

On a sunny Friday morning, a line of more than 2,000 people patiently gathered on a busy street in New York City’s Hudson Yards.

The crowd wasn’t there for a celebrity appearance or sneaker drop. Instead, shoppers flooded into the 54,000-square-foot store hunting for $5 T-shirts, $12 denim, licensed Disney merchandise, and budget-friendly basics across four sprawling floors.

The location is Primark’s 40th US store and its boldest bet yet on the US consumer. Despite the ongoing pressure on discretionary spending, the retailer is continuing an aggressive US expansion, with 12 additional stores planned, including locations at the Mall of America in Minneapolis and Mall at Prince George in Maryland this summer.

Amid the crowds, Retail Brew caught up with Primark US President Kevin Tulip to discuss the retailer’s new flagship, why licensed merchandise has become a major driver in the US, and why the company still sees brick and mortar as its future.

Tell me how the brand has evolved in the US.

When we first started, we had a small collection of stores in the Northeast where we really opened stores. We learned a lot of lessons, and we really started to sharpen what Primark would become in the US.

We’re pretty excited about taking those learnings then to other metro areas in the US where we’ve got stores and then where we plan to open more stores and cluster around some of those big metro areas.

We’ve seen success right away across the 13 states we’re in. I’d maybe point particularly to Florida, where we’ve had great success, particularly with licenses. We have a fantastic store at the Florida Mall in Orlando. We’ve got a great store at Sawgrass Mills and we actually opened just before the holidays in Dolphin Mall in Miami, which has been phenomenal.

What’s resonating most with the US shopper right now?

Ladies’ apparel is definitely our biggest category. But we actually do really well on licensed products. So we have a license with the NFL, NBA, Netflix, and Disney. Our US consumer loves our licensed products, particularly our childrenswear where we’ve got some incredible licenses. We’ve actually got KPop Demon Hunters in this store that we just launched this morning, and that’s been incredibly popular so far.

We have the same products [in the UK], but actually the US consumer certainly pulls more towards it than we see in Europe. The US consumer has just grown up with brands. They’re a bit more brand-centric. A lot of people might not know Primark as a brand, but actually they might recognize a Netflix series or Disney. But actually, it’s all great Primark products, all of ours. So it’s a great opportunity for us to introduce a consumer who knows Disney, maybe, but then is getting to know Primark’s great price, quality, and style as well.

What are your thoughts on e-commerce?

We are a physical retailer. We don’t do e-commerce. So all of our Primark products are only available in stores. That’s why we invite people to come down. If you haven’t shopped with Primark before, come and experience it and fall in love with Primark’s prices, quality, and fashion.

Social is very important to us. We have a fantastic website…But no, we are firmly a brick-and-mortar retailer. We have no plans [to go into e-commerce]. We’ve got Click & Collect in the UK that we rolled out. Continue to watch that. But in the US, it’s really about our store wealth.