Primark is investing more than £100 million into opening and renovating its stores, it revealed on Thursday.
To celebrate being on UK high streets for 50 years, the budget fashion retailer will implement “some of its biggest ever store extensions” through the investment.
Around £75 million of this will be invested throughout the year and is expected to generate around 700 new jobs.
Primark will use the funds to open new stores in Bury St. Edmunds, Teesside Park, Glasgow Fort, Epsom, and Newbury.
London’s Westfield in Stratford will see Primark’s store double in size to become its second largest site in the capital, while its shop in Gateshead, Tyneside will increase in size to around 80,000 square feet.
Through this investment, Primark will operate in 195 stores in the UK, boasting around 8 million sq ft of selling space.
Several stores are also set to receive makeovers, with the fitting of new LED lighting as part of the group’s aim to halve its carbon footprint by 2030.
Kari Rodgers, UK retail director at the retailer, said: “We’ve changed a lot in the fifty years since we opened the doors on our first store in Great Britain in Derby back in 1974, but at our heart, we are still the same.
“This latest investment will mean bigger and better stores, hundreds of new jobs across the country and shows our ongoing commitment to the UK high street.”
Shares in Primark owner Associated British Foods PLC (LSE:ABF) lifted traded flat on Thursday at around 2,263p.