Primark Stores Limited is a clothing retailer in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and Spain. It has 161 stores with 125 in the UK, 34 in the Republic of Ireland and 4 in Spain. In the Republic of Ireland, where the company's main headquarters are based, it trades as Penneys. The company is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods (ABF) plc, employing over 26,000 people. The company positions itself as marketing fashionable clothing at competitive prices. This article is about the department store chain. ... Image File history File links Primark. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Dublin (disambiguation). ... Also: 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ... For other uses, see Dublin (disambiguation). ... , Reading is a town, unitary authority (the Borough of Reading) and urban area in the English county of Berkshire. ... A Chairman is the presiding officer of a meeting, organization, committee, or other deliberative body. ... Managing director is the term used for the chief executive of many limited companies in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth and some other English speaking countries. ... A drawing of a self-service store Retailing consists of the sale of goods/merchandise for personal or household consumption either from a fixed location such as a department store or kiosk, or away from a fixed location and related subordinated services (Definition of the WTO (last page). ... (See also List of types of clothing) Introduction Humans often wear articles of clothing (also known as dress, garments or attire) on the body (for the alternative, see nudity). ... Torn linen cloth, recovered from the Dead Sea Linen is a material made from the fibers of the flax plant. ... Look up revenue in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about work. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

In England the name is generally pronounced /pɹaɪ'mɑːk/ (the first syllable rhymes with the word, prize). However, in Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland the name is usually pronounced /pɹi'mɑːk/. For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... This article is about the country. ... Northern Ireland (Irish: ) is a part of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km², about a sixth of the islands total area). ... This article is about the country. ...

Market position

Primark is known for selling clothes at the budget end of the market. The company's success is based on sourcing supply cheaply, making clothes with simple designs and fabrics, only making them in the most popular sizes, buying stock in huge bulks and varieties but most importantly Primark do not advertise their products.

Company history

A Primark store in Leeds City Centre

The original Penneys store was set up by Arthur Ryan and his partner Micaela Mitchell in Mary Street, Dublin, Ireland, in 1969. Arthur Ryan still remains Chairman of the company today. Primark's UK headquarters are located in Reading, in a former Co-Op Department Store Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1024x768, 193 KB)The picture shows the Leeds City Centre branch of Primark on The Headrow in Leeds City Centre. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1024x768, 193 KB)The picture shows the Leeds City Centre branch of Primark on The Headrow in Leeds City Centre. ... For other uses, see Leeds (disambiguation). ... The Leeds city centre skyline at night The city centre of Leeds can roughly separated into four un-official areas or quarters: // The Civic Quarter Leeds Town Hall The The Civic Quarter is the area towards the north of the city centre and is dis-sected by the Headrow. ... For other uses, see Dublin (disambiguation). ... , Reading is a town, unitary authority (the Borough of Reading) and urban area in the English county of Berkshire. ... The Co-operative Group, the trading name of Co-operative Group (CWS) Ltd, is a United Kingdom consumers co-operative, one of the largest consumer-owned businesses in the world. ...

In the late 1990s, Primark acquired several premises from former C&A sites. It also purchased the former Lewis Department Store in Piccadilly, Manchester. In early 1995, Primark acquired Bhs's OneUp chain. In line with corporate policy, the Irish stores were rebranded as Penneys, and the British stores were rebranded as Primark. This purchase more than doubled the then size of Primark. C&A Logo C & A is an international chain of clothing stores, with its head office in Brussels and Dusseldorf. ... This article is about the City of Manchester in England. ... British Home Stores (also known as BHS or, more recently Bhs) is a stalwart general retailer of the British High Street, selling clothes and household items (such as bedlinen, cutlery, crockery and lighting). ...

In February 2005, Primark bought six former Allders sites from their administrators, Kroll. In July 2005 the 120-branch Littlewoods retail chain was purchased for £409 million. Primark kept approximately 40 of the stores converting them to the Primark format and sold the rest to other stores such as New Look. On 5 April 2007 Primark opened its UK flagship store on Oxford Street in London's West End, having acquired the lease of the former Allders site in December 2005. Allders in Croydon, the third largest department store in Britain Allders was a chain of department stores in the United Kingdom with its head office in Croydon. ... ... Littlewoods Shop Direct Home Shopping Limited () is a United Kingdom retail company, based in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. ... “GBP” redirects here. ... New Look is a chain of high street shops in Britain, popular at first with girls in the 12-24 age bracket but has recently diversified into mens clothing. ... is the 95th day of the year (96th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... Oxford Street, with Centre Point in the background Oxford Street in 1875, looking west from the junction with Duke Street. ... The term West End is most commonly used to refer to the West End of London, England. ...

In 2006 Primark opened its first two stores outside the UK and ROI. On 19 May 2006 the first store opened in Plenilunio Shopping Centre outside Madrid, Spain. On 20 September 2006 the second store opened in Nueva Condomina Shopping Centre, Murcia. Its third branch will soon open at Xanadu Shopping Center and Indoor Ski Resort, between Móstoles and Arroyomolinos, some 25km away from central Madrid, soon followed by Jerez De La Frontera. is the 139th day of the year (140th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the Spanish capital. ... is the 263rd day of the year (264th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the Spanish city. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

On Wednesday 5th September it was revealed that Primark had been fined £8000 for supplying clothes which breached safety regulations. Primark were fined £500 for 16 hoodies with an unsafe neck cord being sold at the Gateshead and Sunderland stores. This article is about Gateshead, England. ... , The Wearmouth Bridge Sunderland (pronounced: , or ) is a city in North East England which was formerly a county borough, and is now part of the City of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear. ...

On 12 September 2007, Primark's newest store opened in Liverpool. It is the largest Primark store, with over 80 000 sq. feet of sales floor, on five floors (with 3 additional floor used as stock rooms and staff areas). A total of 864 staff were employed. The shop took nearly half a million pounds on the opening day is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... For other uses, see Liverpool (disambiguation). ...

According to the retailing trade journal, Retail Week, Primark is interested in expanding to Germany and later to Scandinavia and the Netherlands. Speculators say that Primark could open as many as 100 stores in Germany. ^[1] A trade journal is a periodical, magazine or publication printed with the intention of target marketing to a specific industry or type of trade/business. ... For other uses, see Scandinavia (disambiguation). ...

Departments

Primark carries a range of departments all identified for staff by numbers:

1 - Accessories
2 - Hosiery
4 - Lingerie
5 - Kidswear
6 - Menswear
7 - Footwear
8 - Ladieswear
11 - Household
23 - Toiletries
24 - Christmas
26 - Sports Wear

Primark Own Brands

All of the company's merchandise is made specifically for the company and as such Primark has its own brand names:

• Active — Sporting Boyswear
• Atmosphere — Womenswear and Accessories
• Butler & Webb — Formal Menswear
• Cedarwood State — Casual Menswear
• Denim Company — Womenswear, Casual Men's and Childrenswear
• Early Days — Babywear
• Girl 2 Girl — Young Girlswear
• Opia - Accessories
• Rebel Active — Older Boyswear
• Rebel Junior — Younger Boyswear
• Secret Possessions — Lingerie and nightwear
• Young Dimension — Older Girlswear
• Primark Essentials - Value, Low Price Items(or underwear)
• Primark Home - Home Items

Store structure

The Store Manager is in overall control of the store and supported by, in smaller stores an Assistant Manager or in larger stores, by a Deputy Manager and two to three Assistant Managers. There are then Senior Department Managers and Junior Department Managers who are responsible for individual departments within the store.

Below management there are supervisors in charge of staff on a sales floor or staff on specific departments depending on the size of the store. There are then the department staff who put out stock and tidy their departments, customer service desk staff who deal with returns and exchanges at the customer service desk, cashiers who work on the tills, stock-room staff who deal with deliveries and cash office staff who count money and do the banking.

Unlike other retail stores Primark has separate weekday and weekend staff and supervisors. Weekday staff work Monday to Friday on either full time 37.5-hour contracts or part time 20-hour contracts. Weekend staff work Saturday, Sunday, Public holidays and usually one late night, normally Thursday on 8-hour contracts.

Ethical trading

In 2006, Primark joined the Ethical Trading Initiative, a collaborative forum bringing together businesses, trade unions and NGOs to work on labour rights issues in their supply chains.[2] ETI members commit to working towards the implementation of a code of conduct based on the International Labour Organisation's core conventions. Membership of the ETI does not, however, provide any guarantees about either the quality of a company's ethical trading policies or actual conditions on the ground. Since it joined the ETI, Primark's policies and practices have been examined sceptically as part of Labour Behind the Label's annual 'Let's Clean Up Fashion' survey [3], and poor working conditions in Bangladeshi and Indian factories supplying Primark have been exposed several times [4], [5], [6]. “ETI” redirects here. ... A union (labor union in American English; trade union, sometimes trades union, in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers... NGO is an abbreviation or code for: Non-governmental organization Nagoya Airport (IATA code) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Labor rights are laws created in order to always have fairness and keep peace between employees and employers. ... For other meanings of the ILO abbreviation, see ILO (disambiguation). ... Labour Behind the Label (LBL for short) is a campaign for workers rights in the clothing industry. ...

In 2005, prior to joining the ETI, Primark 2005 scored just 3.5 out of 20 on an ethical index that ranks the leading clothing chains on criteria such as workers' rights and whether they do business with oppressive regimes (Mk One and Marks & Spencer were ranked second and third worst for ethics by Ethical Consumer magazine). The figure was contested by Primark and Ethical Consumer released a statement indicating that marks had been skewed due to its position in a wider company group. Marks & Spencer (colloquially known also as M&S, Marks and Sparks, Marks or Markss) is a British retailer, with 760 stores in more than 30 countries around the world. ... Ethical Consumer is a UK magazine that also publishes a lot of its key information for free on its corresponding website [1]. It is in its own words an alternative consumer organisation looking at the social and environmental records of the companies behind the brand names. Its stated reasons for...

References

• Alam, Khorshed; M. Hearson (2006-12-08). Fashion Victimes (pdf). War on Want. Retrieved on 2006-12-10.
• Kehoe, Ian. "The very private Ryan", Sunday Business Post, 2006-08-01. Retrieved on 2006-12-10.
• Primark Stores Ltd, www.primark.co.uk
• The Independant Newspaper, UK, Dec 2005/ July 2007

External links

• Official site
• Clarification on Ethical Consumer rating of Primark
• Primark Profile in 2007 'Let's Clean Up Fashion' survey