After a fire broke out on The Bank Buildings premises of Belfast’s Primark in August 2018, the store is finally gearing up to reopen later this year.
A reopening target date for Primark Belfast is the first week of November 2022. For the last four years, the store has been undergoing massive refurbishments and an extension costing an estimated £30m (€35m).
The refurbishment comes after a fire wrecked the Castle Street store in August 2018. There will be many new features in the shop, including a Disney café and a beauty salon on the second floor.
Primark Belfast set to reopen this year – a number of new additions
The new Primark store will feature 88,200 sq. ft. of brand-new space. This is an increase of 76% from what the size of the store used to be.
A new fifth floor in the store will house a home department. This will feature a range of accessories, small furniture, and bedding for the first time.
Also, Primark’s existing home on Castle Street will merge with the restored Bank Buildings to create this new superstore.
So, the smaller Primark store at Fountain House on Donegall Place will close in the days leading up to the reopening. Thus, all staff there will be transferred over.
Eagerly awaiting the reopening – a long and complex process
Paul Marchant, Primark CEO, said: “We want to thank the people of Belfast for their ongoing support and patience whilst we undertook the extensive re-building works at our iconic Bank Buildings site.
“We recognise how much the business community and wider city of Belfast has been affected by the devastating fire at our store back in 2018. We’ve put our heart and soul into retaining, conserving and restoring this much-loved historical building.
“We are nearly there with this re-development, and we cannot wait to finally reopen the doors and welcome our customers and our colleagues back into our Bank Buildings store.”
Primark says customers to the newly refurbished store can expect the latest affordable autumn shopping while maintaining their usual in men’s, women’s, and kid’s fashion as well as homeware, beauty and accessories.
Belfast Lord Mayor – Councillor Tina Black
Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Tina Black, added: “This is a major investment in Belfast city centre after a challenging time for our local economy. The devastating fire at Bank Buildings in 2018 was a turning point for our city;
“It acted as a springboard in bringing elected members and city partners together to examine and trial new ideas and concepts to support recovery and regeneration and increase what the city centre has to offer.
“Many of these projects have now been incorporated into our Future City Centre programme. This has been a long and complex restoration project, and local traders and shoppers have shown great patience and resilience.
“We hope the opening of Primark’s extended flagship store will provide a major boost to businesses. Particularly in the run-up to the busy Christmas season.”
