Primark, Part 2 (Or How We Avoided Being Trampled)




(Yes, these photos were taken the actual day we were there, at the Oxford Primark)

Spurred on by the top recommendation of our dear British friends who we’d just lunched with, armed with determination we searched for the elusive, and new to Oxford Street, Primark. A consortium-owned store (Ireland and Spain), they’re opening all over Europe and certainly all over England. In Ireland, where new shops are also opening, they’re called Penneys, although we doubt they are related to that long-standing but faded American department store.

Even though we got there after 8 p.m., there was still a queue to get into the 70,000 sq. foot store, and we later found out (it was on the front page of the London Times) that there was a huge cue to get in that started at midnight, and that there was a bit of a push (translate people crowding, crushing and some falling over) to get in.

Apparently, despite a security staff of 50, 3,000 people waiting to get in pushed their way in. Some shoppers waited two hours just to get in. We congratulated ourselves for being “smart” enough to wait until it was much later in the evening. Apparently, there were no special deals (as some of the consumers apparently thought) and shoppers could’ve hopped onto the tube or bus to get to another London Primark and gotten the exact same deals. But it was quite a melee still by the time we walked (right) in.