{"id":439668,"date":"2026-04-17T09:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/439668\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T09:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:12:13","slug":"i-want-to-bring-penneys-back-to-what-penneys-was-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/439668\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I want to bring Penneys back to what Penneys was\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every cloud has a silver lining and for fast fashion retailer Penneys<\/a> that was the sale of socks last week to fuel protesters at its flagship Mary Street store off O\u2019Connell Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did buy boxes of socks because they were there longer than they had planned so we were happy for them to come in,\u201d says Alli Latham, general manager of the store, the busiest in its Irish network of 38 outlets. <\/p>\n

The downside was that the shop attracted 10,000 fewer customers last week when compared with the same week in 2025. And it struggled to get deliveries to the store. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s obviously not great for business,\u201d says Primark chief executive Eoin Tonge. \u201cBut we live in a turbulent world in the moment, so unfortunately, that\u2019s what we\u2019re dealing with.\u201d <\/p>\n

We are on a store walkabout with Eoin Tonge, the Dubliner who was appointed as CEO<\/a> (just its third since Primark was set up in 1969) last month having filled the post on an interim basis for the previous year. <\/p>\n

Tonge lifts a stylish and contemporary dress off a rail among its Major Finds collection for women. It costs just \u20ac12. \u201cThis is amazing value,\u201d he says, adding they generally sell out quickly. \u201cIt\u2019s a new thing, we\u2019ve only been doing this since October last year. Womenswear is still the biggest part of our business, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also highlights a pair of women\u2019s jeans for \u20ac24. <\/p>\n

How long do they last? \u201cJeans nowadays practically last forever,\u201d he says, citing durability tests it carries out on its products by washing them time after time.<\/p>\n

Tonge says womenswear accounts for half of its business, with menswear and kids about 20 per cent each and non-apparel (home, beauty and accessories) the balance. <\/p>\n

We stop by its sprawling selection of pyjamas, again heavily skewed towards women and children. Pyjamas are a unique selling point for Penneys, particularly at Christmas time. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe just dominate that category,\u201d he says \u201cWe are the best in the world in pyjamas. It\u2019s a big claim but I\u2019ll make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of its bestselling pyjamas is the Boyfriend collection, with Penneys shifting 200 sets every hour across its 38 Irish stores. <\/p>\n

Tonge himself is clothed top to toe in Penneys gear. The white T-shirt, matching navy casual pants and jacket and white shoes comes to about \u20ac75. <\/p>\n

\u201cActually this isn\u2019t out yet,\u201d he says. \u201cI got an advance. I always wear Penneys, at home as well. It\u2019s part of the culture, our people want to wear Penneys, nobody\u2019s forced to wear them.\u201d <\/p>\n

The walkabout is designed to reinforce the message that Penneys offers quality clothing at low prices. <\/p>\n

Primark (Primark operates in 19 countries but only uses the Penneys name in the Republic) sells some 2 billion units a year in its near 500 stores globally. It operates under the umbrella of Associated British Foods, which is listed in London. <\/p>\n

\"EoinEoin Tonge, chief executive of Primark, at the company\u2019s Mary Street Penneys store in Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Irishman Eoin Tonge appointed chief executive of PrimarkOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In a January trading update, ABF said Primark\u2019s like-for-like sales had declined by 2.7 per cent in the 16 weeks to January 3rd. <\/p>\n

Primark has been working hard over the past year or so to try to improve price perception among consumers amid what the retailer has described as a \u201cdifficult clothing market\u201d. <\/p>\n

Tonge says Penneys\/Primark had a \u201ctricky enough\u201d time last year, with some of it down to people reducing their average spend or just not spending at all. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a bit of a pick up into this year … a bit of an improvement, but obviously now we\u2019ve got a different world to deal with, in terms of inflation. But the consumer seems resilient at the moment. We\u2019ll have to see how the next few months pan out.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the perception issue, Tonge says he wants to bring Primark\/Penneys back to \u201cwhat it has always been known for, which is unbelievable value\u201d.<\/p>\n

Did Primark lose sight of its core mission on low prices and value by expanding too quickly over the past decade?<\/p>\n

Tonge acknowledges it expanded its range of products with \u201cslightly higher price points\u201d and experimented with non-clothing offerings in-store that have since been stripped out. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut we haven\u2019t changed the fundamentals. Eighty five per cent of our business is under \u20ac10. But as you expand a little bit there\u2019s always a danger that people have a perception that you\u2019ve become more expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also cites competitors, including the Chinese ecommerce giant Shein, who offer a \u201cvery low price point\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut there\u2019s nothing fundamentally wrong. We\u2019ve just got to remind people what amazing value we have and some of it\u2019s about sharpening the offer. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to bring Penneys back to what Penneys was … we were the value disrupter on the high street and in town centres. People copied us and we\u2019ve got to remind people who the original was.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"DublinerDubliner Eoin Tonge. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill<\/p>\n

Did Primark miss a trick by not being online, especially during Covid?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe offer click and collect in the UK. So you can go online and order from the website,\u201d he says by way of defence but you can\u2019t order online for delivery to your home. The goods have to be collected in a store. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe economics of online are something you have to go in with your eyes wide open. If Penneys or Primark had done that 10 years ago it wouldn\u2019t have been a success, economically. And a lot of people have fallen by the wayside by virtue of big investments they put into going online in the mid 2010s,\u201d he argues. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ve missed a trick and we\u2019ve moved on a lot, with click and collect in the UK, we\u2019ve launched our apps, we\u2019ve redone our websites, we\u2019ve five million people registered with us online. So we\u2019ve moved a lot but it has to make sense and economically work.\u201d <\/p>\n

Is there a day coming in the next five or 10 years when Primark will be fully online and customers will be able to get goods delivered to their door?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really want to say if there\u2019s a day coming. We\u2019ll continue to look at whether it makes sense to do it. The technology keeps on developing and we\u2019ll keep an eye on that. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s expensive to deliver and to fulfil the order. You\u2019ve got to build the right technology and you\u2019ve got the cannibalisation of your bricks and mortar. Our store business is still very strong. We\u2019re not sitting here feeling that we have to do something. But the world keeps changing so we have to keep an eye on it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tonge also suggests Primark\u2019s recent trading challenges have been the result of not communicating its value message well enough. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor as long as Primark has been around it has never done much advertising. It\u2019s been incredibly successful on word of mouth and Spain is a good example of that. We went in there, no advertising and we\u2019ve rolled out almost 70 stores.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnbelievable success, all built around word of mouth. But the world\u2019s a noisier place now, you can\u2019t just expect that to happen [any more]. We\u2019ve found in the United States … when people find out about Primark, they love it. So we\u2019ve got to remind people of the value, the price and the quality.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"EoinEoin Tonge. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just on O\u2019Connell Street that Primark has encountered disruption to its trading. It opened its first outlet in Dubai last month, just after Israel and the United States began bombing Iran, who retaliated by lobbing rockets at Dubai and other neighbours in the Middle East. <\/p>\n

Primark has since opened a second store in Dubai and is pressing ahead with plans to open in Bahrain and Qatar. It opened in Kuwait last October. <\/p>\n

Tonge had to pull out of a trip to Dubai to help cut the ribbon on the new store. \u201cCouldn\u2019t go. That\u2019s a franchise arrangement and we had lots of conversations with them. They are on the ground and know what\u2019s going on. They\u2019re operating other brands like H&M, Starbucks and so on and their strong advice to us was we need to go ahead with this, it\u2019s more normal than you think from where you are sitting thousands of miles away.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Tonge, the Dubai Mall store has been one of its top-performing outlets since its opening and has not had to shut at all because of the conflict. \u201cIt\u2019s been a very strong success so far. We\u2019re constantly speaking to the guys on the ground to make sure everything is okay. Like everyone, we\u2019re hoping for a resolution to this at some point in time.\u201d <\/p>\n

Given its different culture and dress norms, the Middle East might not seem like a natural place for a retailer such as Primark to trade. But the initial signs are promising. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were told people don\u2019t queue [in Kuwait] but there were queues and queues for about three days,\u201d he says. There\u2019s more of a skew to nightwear and leisure [in the region] but it\u2019s going well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Primark is also planning a big expansion of its business in the US, with nine new stores on the drawing board, including a new flagship in Manhattan. <\/p>\n

\"EoinEoin Tonge is confident Primark will succeed in the US. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill<\/p>\n

Lots of European retailers (Tesco for example) and other businesses have floundered in the US but Tonge is confident Primark will succeed in the long term. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still very early days I would say for our US business and we\u2019ve been on the ground for 10 years. We\u2019ve 38 stores. We\u2019ve got concentration around the New York area, 12 stores, and we\u2019ve put some marketing into that area and people there are starting to get to know us. <\/p>\n

\u201cGetting known in the States is not easy. We\u2019ve a much better sense of who the customer we\u2019re going after. It\u2019s family, with an interest in fashion. And a female-led customer. You\u2019ve got to be a bit more bespoke. We\u2019re going into a phase now where we\u2019re going to be a bit more tailored towards the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warming to the theme, he says the new flagship store in Manhattan will be \u201cawesome\u201d. Located on Herald Square between 32nd and 33rd streets, it will open on May 8th. \u201cIt\u2019s going to bring fantastic brand awareness for us in the States, probably globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will Primark play the Irish card in Manhattan? <\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t really played the Irish card in our US business. We\u2019ll do a little bit on St Patrick\u2019s Day but we don\u2019t really play the Irish card. It wouldn\u2019t work in Texas. We will have a lot of Irish people working in the stores so there\u2019s an Irish flavour to it but it\u2019s not part of the proposition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LegendaryLegendary Dublin-born retailer Arthur Ryan. <\/p>\n

Founded here in 1969 under the leadership of the legendary Irish retailer Arthur Ryan<\/a>, Primark\u2019s funky headquarters is located beside the Mary Street store and is still very much an Irish business, Tonge says. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe send Irish people all around the globe. That\u2019s what makes me proud, being CEO of one of the best Irish companies there\u2019s ever been. We\u2019re in 19 countries, with 80,000 employees and close to 500 stores.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tonge is also on the board of ABF, the first Primark executive to hold that role. He says ABF are hands off, allowing the business to operate independently. <\/p>\n

In November, ABF said it was undertaking a review of Primark, suggesting it could be spun out from the mother ship. We should get an answer to the question next week when ABF publishes its half-year results on April 21st. <\/p>\n

Tonge gives little away. \u201cLook, 95 per cent of what we\u2019ve got to do here doesn\u2019t change if we\u2019re public [company] or not.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tonge says he grew up around Clonskeagh and Mount Merrion. His late father was an electrical contractor with his own factory, \u201crepairing transformers\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a hard worker and I worked with him all my youth. I\u2019m pretty sure I got my work ethic from him, and from my mother,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

He was one of five children, went to Catholic University School on Leeson Street and did engineering at UCD. <\/p>\n

\"EoinEoin Tonge. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill<\/p>\n

He joined US investment banking giant Goldman Sachs on leaving college. \u201cIt\u2019s the one decision I still can\u2019t really fathom. My final year project was on AI in 1994. It was called artificial neural networks at the time and I think Goldmans thought I had some way of predicting the future and were quite excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

He started in London, with stints in Hong Kong, New York and London again over the course of 12 years. From there, he went to listed Irish food group Greencore, under the leadership of David Dilger. \u201cI was Patrick Coveney\u2019s [then chief financial officer] first hire and the pitch was that the business was coming out of sugar and was going to scale up in food. It was 13 years of unbelievable experience … I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a business challenge that I didn\u2019t have to deal with in Greencore.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there, he went to Marks & Spencer, where he spent two and a half years before being headhunted by ABF. He became interim boss of Primark in March 2025 when Paul Marchant<\/a> left the business amid allegations about his behaviour.<\/p>\n

Looking out five years, what does Primark look like on his watch? <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it will be a lot bigger. It will be in more countries. We will be a little more bespoke in each country. It will still feel like a Primark whether you\u2019re in Romania or El Paso but it will feel more local. We\u2019re going to continue to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

CV<\/p>\n