Hopes are high that Greggs cafes will be able to open in Primark stores in the North East after the first venture in the Midlands – which proved so successful, the steak retailer has revealed.
Discount fashion and home retailer Primark teamed up with Newcastle’s favorite food company last month, unveiling a tasty fashion collection in a limited number of UK stores.
A special boutique in London, which opened to give fans a preview before the collection was released, was fully booked within hours of the slots release, and all 60 stores quickly sold out the 11-piece clothing collection – some of which are now on eBay at grossly inflated prices.
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Greggs has also opened the world’s largest Greggs cafe in the Primark store in Birmingham, and Greggs CEO Roger Whiteside is now keen to open more cafes in more stores.
He says he would welcome the opportunity to open in over 180 Primark stores in the UK as the company is keen to place the brand and its products wherever it is busy.
And he admitted he never thought he would see the Greggs brand of hats, sweatshirts, joggers and socks, on sale on the high street.
Mr Whiteside said: “I can’t say I ever wrote it down as a strategic priority! Ultimately, what’s exciting for us is that we know that if you put Greggs in convenient places, including inside other stores, like Primark, we can be successful. That’s why we did this.
“Primark wanted to try out a range of Greggs branded clothes – we don’t know anything about the clothes, but they thought it would sell, so we wanted to try a small collection, which we were happy to do. It’s not in our plan to sell clothes – we will see if Primark wants to continue with the Greggs element in the clothing range.
“We are constantly looking to set up Greggs stores wherever there are a lot of people away from home, so we are opening in supermarkets and Primark, and we will open everywhere else that is sufficiently busy.
“It starts very well. We hope that in the coming months, as we both look to assess how this is done, it will become something that could mean Primark lets us open up in a few more.
“I hope to open in more Primarks, just as much as I hope to open in more Tescos and Asdas, and everywhere else that is busy and needs food on the go.”
As well as targeting high street shops, Greggs is also looking to the future and the possibility of sending sausage rolls overseas.
(Image: Darren Quinton/Birmingham Live)
Mr. Whiteside added: “We have the opportunity to go much further in the market because we can now go multi-channel, which has always been the plan of these five years of transformation that we have undertaken.
“We will now reach all parts of the day from all channels and hope to double the brand’s sales. Eventually we will start looking internationally to see how we can take the brand overseas, so I feel very optimistic about the business.
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