Primark stores slated for Roosevelt Field, Green Acres Mall

Primark will break into the Long Island market this year as the popular Irish fast-fashion retailer speeds up its U.S. expansion.

The retailer plans to open a store at Roosevelt Field in Garden City in December, Chris Brivio, general manager for the mall, said in an email provided by the mall’s media representative.

Also, in March 2021, Primark said it will open two new stores in New York between September 2022 and September 2023 — one in Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream and one in Gertz Plaza on Jamaica Avenue in Queens.

Last week, Primark declined to answer Newsday’s questions about its Long Island plans, including a more-specific date for the Green Acres Mall store opening.

The Primark slated for Roosevelt Field will occupy 63,823 square feet on two levels, and it will be the sixth-largest anchor in the mall, according to Brivio.

The store, which will be located between Dick’s Sporting Goods and JCPenney, will be in space that was formerly occupied by Bloomingdale’s Furniture.

Founded in Ireland in 1969, Primark has more than 400 stores in 14 countries in Europe and North America.

The retailer sells adults’ and children’s clothes, as well as beauty products and home goods, at discounted prices, but Roosevelt Field is known as a high-end mall.

The mall offers a diverse lineup of tenants for a wide customer base, Brivio said.

“Roosevelt Field has a long history of serving every niche in the communities we serve from our mix of department stores for all price points (Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Macy’s and JCPenney), our restaurants for every taste … and our expansive and wide variety of small shops,” he said.

The Primark store planned for Green Acres Mall will occupy 35,100 square feet on two levels, part of which is a former JCPenney space.

A Green Acres spokeswoman said the mall did not know when the store will be opening.

Primark is owned by Associated British Foods PLC, a London-based conglomerate whose five business segments include groceries, agriculture and retail.

Primark entered the U.S. market in 2015 with a store in Boston. It now has 13 stores in the country, including a store that opened in Philadelphia in September and one that opened in Chicago in March 2021.

Its two existing stores in New York state are on Staten Island and in Brooklyn.

In November, Primark said it was accelerating its U.S. expansion, and announced that leases had been signed for three new stores in New York state: at Roosevelt Field, the City Point residential and commercial development in Brooklyn and Crossgates mall in Albany. 

The company said it planned for its number of U.S. stores to grow to about 60 over five years.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.