Primark signs lease to open at Queens Center in New York

Primark has claimed yet another prime spot in the New York metro area.

Macerich announced that Primark, which is looking to open 60 stores in the United States, has secured a lease at Queens Center in the Elmhurst section of that borough for a 54,562-sq.-ft. of multi-level space. It will be the Irish value fashion retailer’s seventh location within the portfolio of the big mall owner, others including Kings Plaza in Brooklyn, Danbury Fair in Connecticut, and Freehold Raceway Mall in New Jersey.

Macerich reports that overall sales at Queens Center top $1,700 per square foot.

 “We believe this popular international concept will drive significant traffic to this already heavily visited gem in the Macerich portfolio,” said the company’s executive VP of leasing F.K. Grunert.

Two years ago Primark, which operates some 400 stores in Europe and America, announced its intention to secure 60 prime locations in the United States by 2026. The company is already open and operating at American Dream in New Jersey, Sawgrass Mills in Florida, and on State Street in Chicago.

“Six years after we opened our first store in Boston, it’s clear that US customers – from Florida right up to Chicago – are loving the unique Primark offer,” said the value fashion retailer’s CEO Paul Marchant in 2021. “It feels like we’ve established a strong foundation from which to accelerate our expansion in the US market.”

Primark’s first store was opened as Penneys in Dublin in 1969 by the Weston family, founders of Associated British Foods. When it began to expand in 1973, it was forced to changed its name since JC Penney had trademarked the “Penneys” brand outside of Ireland.

Its first store in mainland Europe opened in Madrid in 2008 and the company’s expansion continued into Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Austria, France, Italy and the Netherlands. It made its U.S. debut in Boston in 2015.

No opening date has been announced for the Queens Plaza location.