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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Entertainment
Danny Rigg

Primark's name explained as original couldn't be used in the UK

One phrase packs a lot of cultural punch in Ireland but doesn't quite land after a short trip across the water.

You buy a new sweater with a funky design, your friend compliments it and you respond, "Thanks, Penneys", hinting at the cost as well as the shop you bought it in. Most of us who are from Ireland shop there or know someone who does, but the reference flies over the head of anyone in Britain because Primark is only called Penneys in Ireland.

This difference left one Twitter user confused by a cartoon version of the "Thanks, Penneys" meme until they "realised Penneys is what the Irish call Primark".

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Founded in Dublin by Arthur Ryan in 1969, the clothing retailer has long since spread off the island. It now has roughly 370 stores like the one on Church Street, Liverpool, as well as several others across Merseyside, and more than 72,000 employees in 15 countries.

Its first international store opened in Derby in 1973. But it opened under a different name, Primark. The brand it had operated under for 14 years couldn't travel with it because the American retailer, JCPenney, already owned the rights to the name in the UK.

Since then, every store the company has opened around the world carries the Primark branding. And every Irish person who's migrated to British cities like Liverpool has faced the culture clash of nobody having a clue what they're on about when they suggest a trip to everyone's favourite budget fashion chain.

Even Ireland's minister for retail businesses felt the need to double up on names in a tweet to guarantee understanding when he visited the "Penneys (Primark)" headquarters in Dublin earlier this year.

While Brits may miss the hidden meaning, any Irish person here or in Ireland will understand when the Primark website says: "Barely a day passes when people don't boast about where they got their shirt or trousers - 'Penneys, just €11'."

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