Primark set to take over BHS unit at Abbey Centre
PRIMARK is set to take on a large empty store left behind with the closure of former retail stalwart BHS.
The budget fashion chain is increasing the size of its current trading space at the Abbey Centre in Newtownabbey by 75%, and moving to the unit which once played host to BHS.
The retailer is aiming to move from its current store next summer. It comes after the Belfast Telegraph revealed that two new retailers look set to take on the former BHS building in Belfast city centre.
The shutters were pulled down on the Castle Place store in August with the loss of 57 jobs in 2016. Two separate retailers are thought to be under offer at the building, which would involve the businesses taking each of the buildings at Castle Place, which are split by an alley.
The administration of BHS affected 164 stores and 11,000 employees UK-wide, including 152 staff at four outlets here.
Furniture retailer EZ Living Interiors is taking on the large unit left behind when BHS Home shut its doors at Holywood Exchange.
Emma Mackenzie, director at NewRiver REIT, which owns the Abbey Centre, said: “We’re thrilled to have secured Primark’s upsize at Newtownabbey, testifying the growing popularity of the Abbey Centre as a convenient fashion retail and leisure destination for the community and beyond.
“Primark is taking the former BHS store and we are working on various other exciting opportunities for the existing Primark store once they vacate.
According to research by The Guardian earlier this year, at the time, just 52 of BHS’s former 164 stores had found new tenants or have deals on the table. The collapse of BHS sparked a parliamentary inquiry and left former owners Dominic Chappell and Sir Philip Green potentially facing an investigation.
Sir Philip has borne the brunt of the public fallout, having been branded “the unacceptable face of capitalism” by MPs. He owned BHS for 15 years before selling it to Mr Chappell for £1.
Meanwhile, UK retail sales jumped in August as shoppers continued to spend despite strong price rises.
Sales were up 2.4% on this time last year, the 52nd consecutive month of year-on-year increases and exceeding the expected 1.1% rise, as consumers ignored the pound’s post-referendum slump and inflation, the Office for National Statistics figures show.
Sales rose 1% month-onmonth, exceeding expectations for a much smaller increase of 0.2%.
Increased spending in nonfood shops such as department stores and DIY outlets was behind the dramatic improvement.
Figures for the three months to August as a whole, which smooth out monthly volatility, show a 1.2% rise in sales growth from the same measurement of 0.7% in July. It came as prices increased across all store types, with non-food stores recording their highest year-on-year price growth since March 1992.