Primark to open 50,000 sq ft store at The Rock in Bury

Date published: 18/09/2009

Multi award-winning Primark will open a 50,000 sq ft store at Thornfield’s 1.6 million sq ft mixed-use scheme, The Rock, the UK’s newest shopping, leisure and living destination, to open next summer 2010 in Bury, Greater Manchester.

The Primark store will join anchor stores M&S and Debenhams who have already signed up and fashion retailers Next and River Island, bringing the total floor space under contract or in solicitor’s hands to an impressive 70%, 10 months in advance of the grand opening. Vue Cinemas, Pizza Express and AMF Bowling will anchor the leisure offer.

Primark, an award winner for the best budget store on the high street at the GMTV High Street Fashion Awards this year is a welcome addition to Thornfield’s £350 million scheme set to transform Bury town centre and catapult it to 62nd ranked retail town in the UK (CACI).

The Rock has been cited as a scheme which represents the High Street of the Future, according to a recent report published by the British Retail Consortium (BRC). It offers first class retail and leisure facilities along with 408 new one- and two-bed apartments.

Jason Marcus, Chairman of Thornfield, says, “We are delighted to announce this very important letting at The Rock, adding a further anchor department store to our line up. The Rock will be one of the largest retail developments to open in the UK next year and given the current economic climate we are delighted to also be in legals with a large number of other exciting retailers and will be in a position to announce these shortly”.

Patrick Wymer, Primark’s Property Executive, said, “We have been looking for suitable opportunities in Bury for some time and we are delighted to now be able to open our first store in the town. We believe that our product range will be very popular in Bury and expect our new store to be extremely successful.”