Primark announces date when Portsmouth store will reopen
PRIMARK has announced the date that it will reopen its store in Portsmouth.
The high street chain’s owner Associated British Foods (ABF) has said it is working to reopen all its 153 stores in England on June 15, after the government gave non-essential retailers the go-ahead to welcome customers again.
Primark shut all of its stores in late March, including the one in Commercial Road, Portsmouth, as the UK went into lockdown.
The retailer said it is awaiting further guidance regarding stores in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales but anticipates openings in ‘late June’.
When Primark returns in a fortnight there will be a number of new safety measures in place, including hand sanitiser stations and social distancing protocols.
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.
‘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.’
ABF said the closure of all Primark stores resulted in a loss of around £650 million for every month that all stores were closed.
SEE ALSO: Gosport and Fareham markets to reopen
It said that it cut more than 50 per cent off overheads at Primark in a bid to stabilise its finances during the pandemic.
The retailer said trading has been ‘reassuring and encouraging’ in its recently reopened stores, with queues outside most sites.
Nevertheless, 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’.
Meanwhile, ABF said operating profits in its grocery business will be ahead of forecasts after ‘stronger sales’ of branded products, although profits in its sugar arm are predicted to slip.