It’s ‘Philadelphia, here I come’ for Penneys with major US deal

Mark Paul, Business Affairs Correspondent

Primark, the Dublin-headquartered retailer that trades in Ireland as Penneys, has struck a deal with the department store giant Sears to open seven new outlets in the northeastern US, including at the largest shopping mall on the east coast and another in New York.

Sears, which is listed on the Nasdaq in New York, told its investors yesterday that Penney's/Primark will lease space from it at seven locations over the next 12-18 months. In total, the Irish retailing group built and chaired by Dublin businessman Arthur Ryan, will rent 520,000 sq ft of space from Sears, which operates more than 750 department stores and also owns KMart.

Primark will open a huge outlet at the King of Prussia Mall on the outskirts of Philadelphia, which is the biggest shopping centre on the east coast of the US. The centre, one of the most famous shopping centres in the US, was for decades the largest in the US before it was opvertaken by the Mall of America in Minnesota. Primark will sub-let Sears’ existing mall there.

The Irish retailer, which is ultimately owned by Brown Thomas owner Galen Weston's Associated British Foods, will also open a store in a Sears-owned mall in Staten Island. Sears said it would announce the locations of the other five Primark lettings "later".

Primark will open the first store in its US foray next year in Boston, on the site of the old Filene department store. The company, which was valued by Morgan Stanley recently at up to £30 billion, is expected to open at least 10 stores in the US in coming years, aftera breakneck expansion across Europe since the financial crisis.

It now operates more than 275 stores across continental Europe, the UK and Ireland.