By Business & Finance 
Pictured at this morning’s store opening in Waterford are Cllr Lola O’Sullivan, Mayor of Waterford City and County and Ben Mansfield, Group sales and operations director.
Penneys today opened its newly extended store in Waterford, creating 55 new jobs. Located on Barronstrand Street, in an area of great archaeological significance, this renovation marks the store’s second extension since its opening on March 7th 1985.
In 2009, following the procurement of Egan’s pub, the store was extended to 21,400 sq ft Penneys later acquired the Belfry Hotel, resulting in the most recent extension which has doubled the size of the store to 44,000 sq ft over two floors.
A Penneys spokesperson said: “This store has been a favourite shopping destination for Waterford fashion-lovers for almost 30 years. We are delighted to unveil our new extension which has an ultra-modern design and will give our customers a unique shopping experience. The renovation has had a significant local impact with the addition of 55 new jobs.”
Penneys currently has 277 stores across nine countries including 45 in all of Ireland. A further nine stores are due to open by December – in The Netherlands, Portugal and Germany.
Earlier this year, Primark announced an expansion into the USA. Primark has signed a lease for some 78,400 sq ft of selling space in the historic Burnham Building, which is currently being renovated, at Downtown Crossing, in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts. The site was previously home to Boston’s famous Filene’s Department Store. The Primark store is planned to open towards the end of 2015.
