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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Entertainment
Henry Saker-Clark PA & Jonathan Humphries

When is Primark going to open? Primark finally confirms opening date for UK stores

Primark has announced it is aiming to open all of its 153 stores in England on June 15.

This means the store in Church Street, Liverpool city centre, should be open for customers - with strict social distancing measures in place including perspex screens behind the tills.

June 15 could see shoppers flock back to the city centre, after the Government announced all non-essential retail could re-open if safety measures are in place.

Owner of the Primark brand, Associated British Foods (ABF), said that it expects to have reopened 281 of its stores by that date, having already reopened 112 of its sites across mainland Europe.

The retailer said it is awaiting further guidance regarding stores in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales but anticipates openings in "late June".

Liverpool's Primark store in Church Street (Liverpool Echo)

ABF shut all its Primark stores in March as the coronavirus pandemic tore across Europe, which it said resulted in a loss of around £650 million for every month that all stores were closed.

It said that it cut more than 50% off overheads at Primark in a bid to stabilise its finances during the pandemic.

In a statement, the company said: "As European governments have begun to ease restrictions on clothing retailing we have been able to reopen stores.

"Safety has been our highest priority in our detailed preparations to welcome our customers and employees back to stores. We are following government safety advice in all markets.

"Importantly, we will apply the valuable experience gained from more than 100 stores which are already open as we open the remainder of our estate, including stores across the UK.

Primark's Liverpool city centre store (Liverpool Echo)

"Social distancing protocols, hand sanitiser stations, perspex screens at tills and additional cleaning of high frequency touch points in the store are among the measures we are implementing."

The retailer said trading has been "reassuring and encouraging" in its recently reopened stores, with queues outside most sites.

However, it said cumulative like-for-like sales since reopening have been lower than the same period last year.

The firm added that "as long as social distancing is required, we expect it to restrict the capacity of our busiest stores from achieving their aggregate pre-Covid-19 sales".

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