Revealed: How expanded Primark will look at Dudley's Merry Hill
New images show how Merry Hill's Primark store will look after it expands to take in the shopping centre's empty BHS branch.
The move will expand Primark on the lower level of the shopping centre, giving it 70 per cent more space to display a much greater range of its budget fashions.
At the same time, Merry Hill owners intu have released images showing the progress of work on the former Sainsbury supermarket that is being turned into one of the biggest Next stores in the country.
The branch is due to open this year.
Along with Primark it will bring to five the total number of chains that have dramatically increased the size of their shops at Merry Hill over the three years since it was bought by intu. River Island, Topshop and Topman, and JD Sports have all doubled their space at the Black Country's biggest out-of-town shopping centre.
Flagship store
The Primark images show how an escalator is being removed to allow the fashion chain to link up with the BHS store opposite, giving it around 60,000 sq ft of retail space. The growth will allow it to dominate it's section of Merry Hill as one of the centre's flagship stores. Primark will retain its upper level, which stands opposite the existing Odeon cinema, but the upper level of BHS is not included in the expansion.
Instead intu bosses have struck a deal to lease the upper floor of BHS to an as yet unnamed sports retailer.
The shop expansion programme is part of £100 million of development and improvements being carried out by intu over the next few years.
News restaurants and a new cinema site are planned as part of an expanded leisure area to make the centre more popular as a day-out destination for families. intu is also splashing out on a major refurb of the centre, which was famously built by the Richardson twins in the 1980s, to bring the look of Merry Hill bang up to date.
The plans are thought to be unaffected by the £3.4bn merger of intu with Hammerson, the rival shopping centre owner that runs Birmingham's Bullring and Grand Central.
Nick Round, regional director at intu, said the company was currently involved in talks with Odeon, which runs the existing cinema at Merry Hill, about it taking on the planned new cinema to be built at the rear of the centre, but added: "Those talks are not exclusive," potentially opening the door for another operator.
