Foreign retailers Primark, Mango, Uniqlo expand in the United States | Real Time Headlines

Elmhurst, NY – One of the latest additions to Queens Center is stores that many local grocers may not recognize.

And famous shopping mall nails Macy’s Department Store,,,,, American Eagle and Bathroom and body workthe shopping mall is now home to Primark. The Ireland-based discount retailer sells clothing, shoes, wallets and more, opening there in December – it has more U.S. stores along the way.

Across the country, more and more shopping malls and shopping malls are gaining a range of international influence. Retailers including Primark, Spain-based Mango, Canadian retailer Aritzia and Japanese Uniqlo are adding new stores in the U.S. and entering areas outside coastal cities such as New York City or Los Angeles.

Based on recent latest data Market research firm GlobalData.

Over the past few years, retailers based in Europe or elsewhere in the world have announced ambitious plans for U.S. expansion.

Primark has 29 stores in the United States and plans to arrive at 60 locations in the country by the end of next year. It has signed leases for new stores across the United States, including El Paso, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; Hyattville, Maryland; and Miami, Florida.

Since its first store opened in Dublin in 1969, the retailer has become a household name in Ireland, the UK and other parts of Europe. As the company said in an interview with CNBC, the U.S. market has become an important place to break the new ground.

“The United States is the number one consumer market,” he said. “So it means a lot to be here and right. But you really need to do it right.”

Barcelona-based retailer Mango announced $70 million expansion Last fall, including plans for 42 new stores in the United States in 2024, there are 20 locations and new logistics centers outside Los Angeles this year. Mango CEO Toni Ruiz told CNBC in an interview that the locations will be scattered across the Sun Belt and parts of the northeast.

Vancouver-based Aritzia’s American footprint is now almost as big as its home country’s store fleet. Last year, retailers opened 14 new stores in North America, including three expansions or relocations. This brings its store count to 61 in the U.S. as it adds boutiques in major cities such as Chicago and Miami, as well as small markets such as Plano, Texas and Sacramento, California.

The company said more and more stores will be available this year in cities including Scottsdale, Arizona and Murray, Utah.

Monique Pollard, a retail analyst at Citi London, said the U.S. has many ingredients from brands from Europe and the rest of the world. She said the U.S. has a fragmented market for clothing retailers whose consumers spend more resilient than in some other tired inflation markets, such as the UK.

Plus, the global trend of fashion trends is faster as Instagram and Tiktok influencers and consumers’ own travel influences the clothes they wear. This could make it easier for new brands to break into an unfamiliar area, said John Mercer, global research director at Coresight Research.

“There are fewer differences between markets,” he said, adding that foreign brands are now “more than in the past few years or decades.”

According to a retail survey by research consulting group Forrester, social media has made brands that even have a small segment of physical stores that can even get attention in the United States on 25 to 34 social media at least 25 to 34 brands that find products or brands that are found on social media every week.

The virus trend has driven sales of some international new immigrants through products such as Aritzia’s Super Puff Winter Coat and Uniqlo’s shoulder bags. Both companies attribute social media to promoting the popularity of these projects two years ago.

Shrinking department stores and retail bankruptcies have already made foreign retailers snap up market share-some of the shopping malls’ open stores for them to fill. Macy’s in the middle Close approximately 150 locations of the same name In the United States, many professional baby shops have also been closed Due to bankruptcyincluding Buy Buy Baby, the babies purchased are Bed Bath & Beyond and Babies R Us.

Primark’s Tulip said children’s clothing has been one of the strong categories for U.S. companies, saying the company has noticed higher demand and less competition.

Some of its stores have replaced retailers like JC Penney, which have closed some locations or others, such as Bed Bath & Beyond, have gone bankrupt.

Mango, Ariz, Uniqlo and Zara are all in the early stages of U.S. growth, with less than 100 stores across the country. This means that at least for the moment, U.S. businesses account for only a small part of these companies’ global operations, while a small part of the country’s clothing market is a small part of the country.

The United States accounts for about 5% of Primark’s global sales. Tulip said he expects that percentage has grown, and that growth has begun to affect retailers’ product range. One change, he said, is that more casual wear is now being made to suit the tastes of American shoppers.

But recently, Swedish retailers Sales disappointed When it faces a stiff competition from the United States and abroad, it comes from Shein, a low-priced Chinese online retailer owned by Inditex and its Spanish rival Zara.

After an earlier push into the country, Uniqlo owners fast retail has gained attention in the United States. The Japanese retailer reported a loss of approximately $71.5 million in fiscal 2016 Retirement and closing stores from the United States

Now the company is in growth mode again and has promised Arrived at 200 stores By 2027 in North America.

Tulips said that for Primark, the United States also has a learning curve. The retailer opened a store in Boston in 2015 and the retailer broke into the U.S. market. Then, he said, it was a cautious attempt to understand the actions of American shoppers, then opening more locations in the northeast and heading to the southern states.

He said enthusiastic shoppers have already appeared early in the openings of many of Primark’s store and are waiting for a line before opening the door.

He said Irish retailers also encountered mistakes. Primark carries many licensed merchandise, such as Disney and Marvel themed clothing or jackets and t-shirts as well as logos for popular NBA and NFL teams.

But when it expanded into the United States, sports merchandise did not land as it was desired.

“Initially, we thought that everyone in Europe loved Dallas cowboys and let’s land the product at every (US) store and everyone would definitely go crazy about it,” he said. “But we quickly saw people’s passion for local sports teams.”

He said the Primark hub only carries relevant local sports teams, such as possessing Buffalo Bills items in upstate New York.

Primark also has a unique quirk that could become a weakness: it is sold only through brick-and-mortar stores. Its lack of e-commerce operations in the United States may make it vulnerable to retailers such as Amazon, Walmart and Shein, especially because these sites sell many low-priced wardrobe staples.

According to reports Company’s website.

Some brands have adopted a different attitude as new immigrants try to attract American shoppers. Zara has maintained less than 100 net stores in the U.S. over the past five years.

Zara’s parent company adds more space to its stores, rather than more locations. In 2013, the average store size of Inditex retailers was about 6,000 square feet. According to data from company filings, Citi analyzed data shows that the figure averaged about 8,600 square feet.

Although the growing international retailers have only a small footprint in the U.S., they have proven to have something influential as they offer shoppers new options and new competition for U.S. retailers.

One of Primark’s next expansion moves suggests that the company is not subtle about its ambitions: a store will open in Herald Square in New York City. Macy’s iconic flagship store is less than two blocks away.

On a recent day in Queens Center a few miles away, prospects browsed the aisles of Primark stores, some left behind large purchases.

Jeanette Torres, a Brooklyn-based retiree, heard about the brand from his son. She said the company’s low prices convinced her to shop there. She bought a T-shirt, underwear and a winter hat, which totaled about $30.

She said she liked it These prices cannot come at the expense of store experience. Primark’s lighting and tidy locations are brighter than priced retailers like Burlington Stores, she says “everything is above everything.”

Bruce Wolinsky, another retiree in Queens, stumbled on Primark. He took Macy’s credit card to the mall, with a 25% discount on coupons and needed a new pair of shoes.

He has never been to a department store. Instead, he walked into Primark and walked out a pair of $22 lace navy blue and brown sneakers.

– Gabrielle Fonrouge of CNBC contributed to this report.