Viva Primark: Retailer continues to expand in Italy, announcing a further €40 million investment with five new stores planned

• 700 new jobs to be created across Italy.

Even more Italian shoppers are set to enjoy a Primark store in their region, as the fashion retailer continues to expand across the country. Primark has announced a new €40 million investment in five new stores in Italy: one each in Rome, Biella, Perugia and two in Naples, which will bring its Italian store footprint to 26. These new stores will also create 700 new jobs.

Primark began its Italian story in 2016, opening its first store at the ‘Il Centro’ shopping centre, Arese, Milan. Since then, the brand has proven to be a hit among Italian consumers, expanding to 18 stores across the country, including a flagship store and regional office in the centre of Italy's fashion capital, Milan.

As part of its commitment to bring Primark to even more Italian customers, Primark will bring its unique offering to three new cities: Biella (Gli Orsi shopping centre), Perugia (Collestrada shopping centre) and Naples (Grande Sud Retail Park and La Cartiera shopping centres). Following the success of Primark Roma Maximo and Roma Est, which opened in 2020 and 2021 respectively, the retailer is bringing a third store to ‘Caput Mundi’.

Creating a fantastic in store experience is at the heart of every Primark store. Each of the five new stores will be designed with this in mind, offering a wide choice of fashion beauty, and homeware products at affordable prices. The new stores will also feature self-service checkouts alongside traditional cashier checkouts, giving customers more choice and convenience when shopping. 

This announcement follows Primark’s €50 million investment in Italy in November 2023, which included five new store openings in Turin, Livorno, Salerno, Cosenza and Genoa. A further new store in Parma was also announced that year.

Luca Ciuffreda, Director of Primark Italy said: “I’m so proud of our growth journey in Italy: in just nine years, we’ve expanded to 18 stores across 10 provinces and there’s so much more potential. We’re thrilled to unveil a further €40 million investment to continue our expansion, create new jobs and support local communities. We know our Italian customers love our kidswear, as well as brilliant basics including pyjamas and underwear, and our incredible team work hard every day to bring our unbeatable value in fashion, beauty, and homeware to customers across Italy. And we’re not stopping here—stay tuned, because there’s even more to come!”

To support the new store openings, Primark will create 700 retail roles, adding to its workforce of over 5,000 in Italy. Primark Italy has a unique people model including its ‘Grow with Us’ training programme which focuses on internal career development and progression. Since the program began, 80% of its management have been promoted internally and colleagues are given opportunities to relocate with the company to different cities and progress their career. For example, when its most recent store opened in Salerno, 100% of the managerial team were part of the ‘Grow with Us’ program and had been promoted internally.

Laura Finocchiaro, Head of People & Culture, Italy said: “Working at Primark is an opportunity to build a lifelong career in retail, with extensive in-house training programmes such as ‘Grow with Us’, as well as learning and development opportunities across all levels. We will have a mix of full and part-time roles for retail assistants and managers available and interested candidates can apply for a position through the Primark careers website in the coming months. “

Primark’s investment in Italy is part of the retailer’s ambitious international growth plans to expand across new and existing markets - currently the retailer has 462 stores across 17 markets and continues to grow.