Hopes are high that Greggs cafes could open in Primark stores in the North East after the first venture in the Midlands – proved such a success, the steak bake retailer revealed
Discount fashion and home retailer Primark teamed up with Newcastle’s favourite food firm last month, unveiling a tasty fashion collection in a limited number of UK stores.
A special boutique in London, opened to give fans a sneak peek ahead of the collection's release, was fully booked within hours of releasing time slots, and all 60 stores soon sold out of the 11-piece collection of clothes – some of which are now on eBay at vastly inflated prices.
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Greggs also opened the world’s biggest Greggs cafe in Primark’s Birmingham shop, and Greggs CEO Roger Whiteside now wants to open more cafes in more stores.
He says he would welcome the chance to open up in more of Primark’s 180-plus UK stores, as the company is keen to place the brand and its produce wherever it is busy.
And he admitted he never thought he’d see Greggs branding emblazoned on 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! At the end of the day, what’s exciting for us is that we know that if you put Greggs in convenient places, which includes inside other shops, like Primark, that we can be successful. That’s why we’ve done that.
“Primark wanted to try a clothing range branded Greggs - we don’t know anything about clothing, but they felt that would sell so wanted to try a small collection, which we were happy to do. It’s not in our plan to sell clothing - we’ll see if Primark wants to keep going with the Greggs element in the clothing range.
“We’re on the lookout continuously for putting Greggs shops wherever there are lots of people away from home, so we’re opening up in supermarkets, and Primark, and we’ll open up anywhere else that’s busy enough.
“It’s got off to a great start. We hope that in the months ahead as both of us look to evaluate how it’s done that it becomes something that might mean Primark let us open up in a few more.
“I hope to open in more Primarks, just so much as I hope to open in more Tescos and Asdas, and anywhere else that’s busy that needs food-on-the-go.”
As well as targeting high street shops, Greggs is also looking further into the future and the possibility of sending sausage rolls overseas.
Mr Whiteside added: “We’ve got the opportunity to reach much further into the market because we can go multi-channel now, which was always the plan these five years we’ve been on the transformation we’ve been undertaking.
“We’re now going to reach into all day parts of all channels and hope to double sales for the brand. Eventually we’ll begin to look internationally to see how we can take the brand abroad, so, I’m feeling very optimistic about the business.”
