Primark invests €50 million in bolstering presence in Italy

British retail giant Primark has today announced the continuation of its global expansion with an investment of upward of £43.2 million (€50 million) in five new stores in Italy.

The five new stores will be in the Italian cities of Turin, Livorno, Cosenza, Salerno and Genoa, bringing Primark’s total footprint in the country to 20 stores.

Primark will create around 600 new retail roles across Italy, increasing the Italian workforce to over 5,000.

Since opening its first store eight years ago in the ‘Il Centro’ shopping centre in Milan, Primark has proven a roaring success.

Each store will have LED lighting, as Primark progresses its ambition to halve its carbon footprint across its value chain by 2030. The new stores will also be the first in Italy to feature self-service checkouts, meaning that customers can look forward to enjoying additional speed and convenience during their store visits.

Luca Ciuffreda, Director of Primark Italy said: ‘Over the past eight years, Primark has seen significant growth across Italy, we have 15 stores across 10 provinces, with no intention of slowing down. Today we are proud to announce an ambitious investment in our store portfolio and long-term growth of Primark Italy.

"This exciting expansion plan will create employment and positively impact the local communities where we are opening. Where we have stores already, we know our Italian customers love our offering of the best value fashion, beauty and homeware coupled with an amazing in-store experience, and we look forward to bringing Primark to more customers in more cities across Italy in the coming years.”

Primark’s investment in Italy is part of the retailer’s ambitious growth plans to expand across new and existing markets with the aim of reaching 530 stores by 2026, including new US states and new European markets, such as Hungary.