Fashion, Cambridge, Preston, primark
Primark Opens in Cambridge
In Local Fashion on 08/11/2009 at 14:37
I went home this weekend and I was surprised at how much had changed in just a few months: the tobacconist by the Round Church is now an old fashioned sweet shop, the central library has finally opened, Kings College has been taken over by hideous green scaffolding, the Christmas lights were up and of course… Primark opened.
I hadn’t even arrived in town yet and the buzz was starting. Waiting in the queue for the park and ride I overheard a conversation between another woman in the queue and a woman who had just got off the bus “you’re mad to be going in to town, it’s absolutely swarming. Everyone’s gone to Primark!”
Primark have timed this opening very well. Not only is it just before Christmas but Cambridge has been crying out for Primark for some time. A city that has just had an influx of high end, quality shops at the Grand Arcade shopping centre and an 877 members strong (I’m presuming there was probably more until it was officially announced Primark would be coming) facebook group pleading “Bring Primark to Cambridge. Please!”, this is exactly what the people wanted.
Previously the residents of Cambridge would travel to Bedford or Stevenage just to visit Primark (why else would anyone go to Bedford and Stevenage?) but now, on the old John Lewis site on Burleigh Street, a giant three floor shrine to bargain shopping is right on our door steps.
There was barely a single person in town yesterday without a Primark carrier bag, the queues for the tills, changing rooms and customer services (what? complaints already?) were probably doubling peoples total time in the store.
It was too busy and too big to even browse.
Outside the store it seemed that everyone was trying to get on the band wagon and get business out of Primark’s crowd drawing skills. There were charity collectors, people giving out leaflets, free tea and coffee at Debenhams flyers, Royal British Legion volunteers selling poppies and according to the security guard pick pocketers were making the most of the crowds too.
Since moving to a city that has a Primark the novelty has worn off for me. They are good for last minute buys when you haven’t got much money left but from experience I know that over the next couple of weeks in Cambridge, everyone will be wearing the same things. I’m sure that Fez nightclub looked like a Primark party wear catwalk last night.
I appreciate the phenomenon that Primark has created. They are the cheapest of the cheap and also the most stylish of the cheap but it’s not really for me anymore. I deifnitely noticed a younger crowd at Primark yesterday, a group that has probably been left out by the Grand Arcade.
However, I have not seen the Grafton Centre that busy in a long time. It is certainly becoming the cheap end of town (after all it wasn’t so long ago that the Grafton Centre gave Cambridge its first pound shop!) but it does add a new dimension to shopping in Cambridge.
Now that there is a reason to shop at that end of town there is less of a stigma of living in the shadow of the sparkly town centre with its historic buildings and expensive shops.
We may not have the hottest night life but we’re certainly becoming a hot shopping location. Something I think Preston could really learn from.
Funnily enough, on the website for the Tithebarn development (which seems to just be one disaster after another in Preston) there is a picture of the new John Lewis in Cambridge which was built by one of the developers involved in the Tithebarn until recently.
It has been two months since I have been in Cambridge and it was thriving when I came back, when I came back to Preston after a four months summer it felt like nothing had changed.
Now it seems that Cambridge has got it all. We’ve got high street, we’ve got boutiques, we’ve got the market, we’ve got designer and now we’ve got Primark.
Cambridge Girl recommends:
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Going in to the new Primark in Cambridge – even if you don’t buy it has to be witnessed!
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that Preston City Council sort whatever it is that their doing out and take a leaf out of Cambridge’s book.
I went home this weekend and I was surprised at how much had changed in just a few months: the tobacconist by the Round Church is now an old fashioned sweet shop, the central library has finally opened, Kings College has been taken over by hideous green scaffolding, the Christmas lights were up and of course… Primark opened.
I hadn’t even arrived in town yet and the buzz was starting. Waiting in the queue for the park and ride I overheard a conversation between another woman in the queue and a woman who had just got off the bus “you’re mad to be going in to town, it’s absolutely swarming. Everyone’s gone to Primark!”
Primark have timed this opening very well. Not only is it just before Christmas but Cambridge has been crying out for Primark for some time. A city that has just had an influx of high end, quality shops at the Grand Arcade shopping centre and an 877 members strong (I’m presuming there was probably more until it was officially announced Primark would be coming) facebook group pleading “Bring Primark to Cambridge. Please!”, this is exactly what the people wanted.
Previously the residents of Cambridge would travel to Bedford or Stevenage just to visit Primark (why else would anyone go to Bedford and Stevenage?) but now, on the old John Lewis site on Burleigh Street, a giant three floor shrine to bargain shopping is right on our door steps.
There was barely a single person in town yesterday without a Primark carrier bag, the queues for the tills, changing rooms and customer services (what? complaints already?) were probably doubling peoples total time in the store.
It was too busy and too big to even browse.
Outside the store it seemed that everyone was trying to get on the band wagon and get business out of Primark’s crowd drawing skills. There were charity collectors, people giving out leaflets, free tea and coffee at Debenhams flyers, Royal British Legion volunteers selling poppies and according to the security guard pick pocketers were making the most of the crowds too.
Since moving to a city that has a Primark the novelty has worn off for me. They are good for last minute buys when you haven’t got much money left but from experience I know that over the next couple of weeks in Cambridge, everyone will be wearing the same things. I’m sure that Fez nightclub looked like a Primark party wear catwalk last night.
I appreciate the phenomenon that Primark has created. They are the cheapest of the cheap and also the most stylish of the cheap but it’s not really for me anymore. I deifnitely noticed a younger crowd at Primark yesterday, a group that has probably been left out by the Grand Arcade.
However, I have not seen the Grafton Centre that busy in a long time. It is certainly becoming the cheap end of town (after all it wasn’t so long ago that the Grafton Centre gave Cambridge its first pound shop!) but it does add a new dimension to shopping in Cambridge.
Now that there is a reason to shop at that end of town there is less of a stigma of living in the shadow of the sparkly town centre with its historic buildings and expensive shops.
We may not have the hottest night life but we’re certainly becoming a hot shopping location. Something I think Preston could really learn from.
Funnily enough, on the website for the Tithebarn development (which seems to just be one disaster after another in Preston) there is a picture of the new John Lewis in Cambridge which was built by one of the developers involved in the Tithebarn until recently.
It has been two months since I have been in Cambridge and it was thriving when I came back, when I came back to Preston after a four months summer it felt like nothing had changed.
Now it seems that Cambridge has got it all. We’ve got high street, we’ve got boutiques, we’ve got the market, we’ve got designer and now we’ve got Primark.
Cambridge Girl recommends:
“Now it seems that Cambridge has got it all. We’ve got high street, we’ve got boutiques, we’ve got the market, we’ve got designer and now we’ve got Primark. ”
So we’ve turned into every other town – I miss Cambridge when it was kooky and beautiful!
Yeah I do agree, Cambridge used to be a lot quirkier than it is but we still have some of that and I think that adds another valuable dimension to Cambridge. Obviously that’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea though and so I think Primark is helping to cater for all tastes. I do really hope the hippie scene in Cambridge doesn’t die out though!
nice post. thanks.
A SUPPORTED BY THE DEVELOPER TOOLS? It was interesting. You seem very knowledgeable in ypour field.