A short while ago, Alshaya revealed the hoarding for the first Primark store opening in the Middle East. The store will be located at The Avenues, where Debenhams used to be, and is expected to open on October 23. This will be followed by three stores in Dubai in 2026, opening at Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates, and City Centre Mirdif.
The next big reveal should be Ulta Beauty, which is expected to open before the end of the year in place of Dean & Deluca, also at The Avenues.
9 replies on “Primark Opening in Kuwait October 23”
Why so long? That’s 5 months away!
I think you meant “boarding”? Primark is the same as Shein. Don’t understand the hype.
Hoarding:
– a large board used for displaying advertising posters, as by a road Also called (esp US and Canadian)billboard
– a temporary wooden fence erected round a building or demolition site
You rang ? Someone say erected ?
Am I missing something here?
When I was a student (albeit early 90’s in Cardiff), Primark used to be the store you went to when your student grant was almost gone and you needed anything to get you through to the end of term looking like you didn’t live on the street.
Has it been gentrified a la Lidl / Aldi or is there some niche fuelling people’s fascination that I’m not seeing?
People have more money than sense. I remember a while back a place (saveco I think) would to sell the Tesco saver’s range in Kuwait for the same price as premium German stuff from the coops.
Primark will be a novelty for a few years then crash out of the Kuwaiti market. It probably would do well in Dubai where a decent amount of expats are Brits, and maybe even Irish. We never had a Primark in Durham so I can’t really vouch for it.
I think Kuwait is just a base because Alshaya is a Kuwaiti company and thats why they have 1 store opening in Kuwait but 3 in Dubai.
@ Neil P: you are darn right.
Never before has there been as much hullabaloo as now over something as trivial as the opening of a slightly high end version of Oxfam meets Salvation Army store in Kuwait. That said, Primark is rather popular with tourists from Kuwait spending their summer in Britain. Wonder what kind of rip off mark ups they have in mind for their Avenues location.
Have always felt Primark would be far better positioned inside Al Salam mall in Salmeya or Al Mohollab in Hawally but I guess, they know better. Having a Primark store sat right next to you can adversely impact the vantage of say, a Harvey Nics or a luxury brand. Again, it’s the mall operator’s call who also are the franchise owners for Primark. It is only fitting now that Woolworths consider opening shop in the Primark precinct of the Avenues.
A couple of points:
– The CEO in a recent radio interview stated prices will be similar to the UK
– Primark isn’t going to compete with Harvey the same way Debenhams didn’t and how H&M which is much closer to Harvey doesn’t.