Elmhurst, NY – One of the newest additions to queens center is a store that many locals mallgoers may not recognize.
Along With Well-Known Mall Staples Like Macy’s, American eagle and Bath & Body WorksThe shopping center is now home to a primark. The Ireland-Based Discount Retaile, which sells clothing, shoes, purses and more, open its doors there in December-and it has more us stores on the way.
Across the Country, A Growing Number of Malls and Shopping Centers are gotting a dose of international influence. Retailers Including Primark, Spain-Based Mango, Canadian Retailer Aritzia and Japan-Based Unique Are Adding New Stores Across Across the Us-And Pushing Into Regions where they have to get out Cities like new york city or los angeles.
Primark Store at the Queens Center Mall in Elmrurst, NY.
Melissa Repko | CNBC
Nearly 19,000 stores open in the US Between 2018 and 2023 and about 28% of that was foreign-out retailers, according to the most recent available available figures from fromGlobaldata, a Market Research Firm.
And in the past few years, retailers based in europe or Elsewhere Around the World have Announced Ambitious Us Expantions Plans.
Primark, which has 29 stores in the US, plans to reach 60 locations in the country by the end of next year. It has signed leases for new stores in divese parts of the US, including el paso, texas; Memphis, tennessee; Hyatsville, Maryland; And Miami, Florida.
The retailer, Known as penneys in ireland, has become a household name in ireland, the uk and other parts of europe of prints its mind its first store opened in dublin in 1969. Break New Ground as the Company Hits A “Maturity Point” in some European Countries, President of Primark us kevin tulip said in an interview with cnbc.
“The us is the number one consumer market,” He said. “So to be here and to get it right means a lot. But you really need to get it right.”
Why the US is a retail expansion target
Primark isn’t the only one with big ambitions for the US
Barcelona-Based Retailer Mango Announced a $ 70 million expansion Last Fall, Including Plans for 42 New Storefronts in the us in 2024, 20 more locations this year and a new logistics center outseide of los angles. Thos locations will be scattered in parts of the sun belt and northeast, Mango Ceo Toni Ruiz Told CNBC in an interview.
Vancouver-Based Aritzia’s us footprint is now nearly as large as its fleet of stores in its home country. Last Year, The Retailer Opened 14 new stores, Including Three expansions or relacations, in North America. That brieft its store count to 61 in the us, as it added boutiques in major cits like chicago and miami and smaller markets like plano, texas and sacramento, california.
Shoppers wait in line to enter newly opened women’s clothing store aritzia on Michigan avenue on black Friday on nov. 29, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.
Kamil krzaczynski | Getty Images
And more stores are coming this year in cites including scotsdale, arizona and murray, utah, the company said.
The us has many ingredients that brands from europe and other parts of the world look for, said monique pollard, a longon-spoken retail analyst for citizel. The us has a fragmented market of apparel retailers, and its consumer spending has proven more resilient than in some other information-wery markets like the united kingdom, Sheid.
Plus, fashion trends are going global more quickly as influencers on Instagram and Tiktok and Consures’ Own Travel Influences What they Wear. That can make it easier for a new brand to break into an unfamiliar region, said John Mercer, Head of Global Research for Coresight Research.
“There are more differenties to kind of iron out better
Social Media has made it possible for brands with even a tiny footprint of physical stores to gain traction in the us about 63% of consucers under 25 and 57% of that that 25 and 34 Discover products Brands on Social Media at Least Weekly, According to a Retail Survey by Research Advisory Group Forrester.
Shoppers Walk INTO Unique At the Westfield UTC Shopping Center on Jan. 31, 2025 in San Diego, California.
Kevin Carter | Getty Images
Viral trends have fuled sales for some of the international newcomers, through products like aritzia’s super puff winter coat and unique’s Shoulder Bag. Both companies credited social media for driving popularity of that items two years ago.
Shrinking department stores and retail bankruptcies have left market share for foreign retailers to grab – and some empty stores in malls for them to film. Macy’s is in the middle of Closing about 150 of its namesake locationsacross the US many specialty baby stores have also shutted due to bankruptciesIncluding Buy Buy Baby, which was owned by bed bath & beyond, and babies r us.
Primark’s Tulip Said Children’s Clothing Has Been One of Company’s Strong Categories in the Us, Saying The Company has noticed Higher Demand and Less Competition.
And some of its stores have replaced retailers like jC penney that have shutted some locations, or others such as bed bath & beyond that have gone out of business.
Mango, aritzia, unique and zara are all in the early innings of us growth, thought, with less than 100 stores each across the country. That means that at least for now, the us businesses account for just a small piece of that companies’ Global business and a tiny fraction of the country’s apparel murder.
The US represents about 5% of Global Sales for Primark. Tulip said he expects that percentage to grow and alredy, that growth has been to influence the retailer’s product range. One change is that it’s now making more leisurewear to Suit American Shoppers’ Tastes, He Said.
Mango Flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Courtesy: Mango
The risks of expansion
Yet in any new market, success isn’t a guarantee – and relevance can fade.
Sweden-Based H & M Paved The Way for Other Foreign Retailers when it open the doors of its first us store about 25 years ago on new york City’s Fifth Avenue. Since then, the retailer has become a well-known mall name strongly associated with its fash fashion approach of Quickly Responding to Trends and Selling Cheaper Versions of Hot Items.
But more recently, the swedish retailer’s sales have disappointed As it faces stifer competition in the US and abroad from low-priced Chinese Online Retaile Shein and Spanish Rival Zara, which is owned by inditex.
A Shopper Carries Foot Locker and Zara Shopping Bags while Walking Down the Third Street Pronade in Santa Monica, California, March 20, 2023.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Unique Owner Fast Retailing has Gained Traction in the US After Earlier Pushes into the Country Fell Flat. The Japanese Retailer Reported Losses of Roughly $ 71.5 Million in Fiscal 2016From retiring assets and shuttering stores in the US
Now, the company is back in growth mode and has pledged to Reach 200 stores in North America by 2027.
For primark, the us has come with a learning curve, too, tulip said. The retailer broke into the US market in 2015 by opening a store in boston, a city with a large IRINGE INS POPULATION That would recognize its brand. Then, He Said, It Moved Cutiously to Try to Undrstand The Us Shopper Before Opening More Locations in the Northeast and then Heading Further to Southern States.
At many of primark’s store openings, enthusiastic shoppers have Turned up early and waited in a line before doors Swung open, He said.
Yet the Irish Retailer has had Missteps too, He said. Primark Carries a lot of licensed merchandise, such asDisney and marvel-themed clothing or jackets and t-shirts with the logos of popular NBA and nfl teams.
But when it is expanded to the us, that sports merchandise didn Bollywood in the way it had Hoped.
“Initially We Thought, You Know, Surely Everyone in Europe Loves The Dallas Cowboys and, You know, let’s land that product into everything and everyone’s still and everyone’s going to absolutely go for forms.” He said. “But we saw pretty quickly that actually people are very passionate about their local sports team.”
He Said Primark Pivoted to Carrying only Relevant Local Sports Teams, Such as Having Buffalo Bills Items in UPState New York.
Primark also Its Lack of An e-Commerce Business in the Us Block Make It Vulnerable to Retailers Like Amazon, Walmart and Shein, Especially Since SITES SITES SILL MANY LOW-PRARCED WARDRICED WARDRICED WARDRICED WARDRICED
More than 50% of Primark’s Clothes are everyday basics, such as underwear, t-shirts and sockets, according to The company’s website,
As the newcomers have tried to gain traction with American shoppers, some brands have taken a different tack. Zara’s Net Store Count in the us has styed flat at just just shy of 100 for the past five years.
INTEAD of More Locations, Zara’s Parent Company has added more Room in its stores. In 2013, The Average Store Size for Inditex’s Retailers Including Zara Was Around 6,000 Square Feet. That’s shot up to an average of about 8,600 square feet a decade later, according to a Citi analysis based on data from company filings.
While The Growing International Retailers have only a small footprint in the US, they have already proven influential, as they offer shoppers fresh choices and us retailers new completion.
One of Primark’s next expansion moves show the company is not subtle about its Ambitions: a store is set to open in new york City’s Herald Square. It will be a less than two-block walk from mechanic flagship store.
On a recent day at qeens center a few miles away, Prospective Customers Browsed The Aisles of the Primark Store, and some left with an armful of purchase.
Jeanette Torres, a retiree who lives in brooklyn, heard about the brand from her son. She said the company’s low prices convined her to shop there. She Purchased A T-Shirt, underwear and winter hat, which cost a total of about $ 30.
She said she likes thatThos prices do’t come at the expense of the store experience. Primark has brighter lights and neater locations than off-profit retailers like burlington stores, where she said “Everything is on top of everything.”
Bruce Wolinsky, Another Retiree from Queens, Made His First Trip to Primark by Accident. He went to the mall with his message credit card, a 25% off coupon and a need for a new pair of shoes.
He never made it to the department store. INTEAD, he walked into primark and walked out with a $ 22 pair of lace-up navy blue and brown sneakers.
– CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge Contributed to this report.
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