Primark eyes late 2020 opening date for Prague Wenceslas Square flagship

Rumors of the Irish apparel brand Primark entering the Czech market had previously circulated for years with thousands of fans petitioning the retailer to bring their affordable fashions to Prague. There was even a bus tour devoted to transporting Czech shoppers to the nearest Primark in Dresden, Germany.

Then in February, the Irish department store announced that it would open a branch on Wenceslas Square. Now an opening date for could finally be in sight. The fashion chain, which should be housed on the lower floors of the new Flow Building building at Opletalova Street, currently under construction, could open doors in late 2020.

Speculation that Prague’s Primark will simply be a “garbage can” of the chains in London, Paris, and other metropolises, was debunked by Jan Kotrbáček from the real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield, a partner of Primark in the Czech Republic, who said that the Prague Primark will offer the same assortment as branches elsewhere.

“The business that originates in Prague will be the flagship of Central and Eastern Europe. Customers from Bohemia and Moravia, who have been going to Dresden, Linz, and Vienna until now, will start going to Prague because it will be a huge branch, which will be located in an interesting place and in a new building in the very center of Prague,” he says. 

Economists say the new store may pose a challenge to currently existing mid-level fashion brands while benefitting other local businesses for attracting customers with money to spend in the Czech capital.

in Europe and the USA, Primark has a total of 363 stores. Most of them are in the UK, Spain, and Ireland. The success of the chain is a strategy that combines fast fashion and low prices. The largest branch is in Manchester, a retail space measuring 14,400 m 2.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that Primark had announced a spring 2020 opening. The Flow Building, of which Primark will be a part, will open in May 2020; the Primark store will likely open later, probably in the second half of 2020.

(h/t Nas Region)