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When I started school last year in Boston, all everyone was talking about — besides classes, tests, and Chem 101 labs — was this mysterious store called Primark. I had no clue what it was aside from what my friends would tell me. They told me crazy tales of $10 pairs of jeans and $15 heels. They told me about fashionable blouses for only $9 and winter coats all under $40. For all of last year, I thought they were lying to me and that this mysterious store called Primark couldn’t be all it was cracked up to be. They either had to have low prices and cheap clothes or only a few styles were as inexpensive as I had heard people bragging about. Somehow, I went all of last year without stepping foot in Primark. Today, I learned what I big mistake that was. Today, I finally took the train to Downtown Crossing and truly shopped until I dropped.
As I arrived at the storefront of Primark, I was shocked. It was huge, neon, and blue. You obviously couldn’t miss it and I wondered how I hadn’t seen it before. Stepping inside the shop, I was greeted with another large neon sign that read “Welcome, Boston!” with some cute black and white artwork surrounding it. I personally loved this and wanted Zoe, my shopper in crime, to take a few pictures of me in front of it. I also loved how they provided shopping baskets at the entrance because, while most stores hand out shopping bags, they are not as clearly marked and sometimes hard to find. Primark made it easy for me to grab all the items I wanted without fear of making my arms collapse.
I mentioned earlier that I was shopping with my friend, Zoe. Zoe is an experienced Primark customer and informed me that there were four levels to the store and I could find something for myself on almost every level (except the top floor, which was for children). I was, once more, shocked. We started on the ground floor where I found some great blouses and sweaters then worked our way upstairs where I was greeted with their denim department. Never have I ever seen so much denim in my life. The quality felt really sturdy. The material was also pretty flexible so I would definitely be able to squeeze into a pair of skinny jeans after a good meal and not be afraid that they would rip. On the second floor, I also found amazingly abundant accessories like backpacks, keychains, scarves, hats, and purses. I was overwhelmed and had to restrain myself from purchasing all their small leather backpacks.
The last floor we went to was the third floor, home to men’s fashion and women’s shoes. I was expecting a small shoe department and for the rest of the floor to be focused on men. However, I was wrong. In fact, about half the floor was dedicated solely to shoes and there were many different types: ankle boots, knee-high boots, heels, flats, tennis shoes. I had found two cute pairs of ankle boots online so I immediately found those first and tried them on. I was deciding between a pair of ankle boots covered in a flower pattern and a pair of suede ankle boots. I held onto them both to try them on with my outfits in the dressing room later.
Once we were finished with boots, we headed on over to the home section. I was once more upset with myself that I hadn’t gone back-to-school shopping here because they had such cute comforters and accessories like wall lights and candles for such low prices. After smelling all their amazing scents and squishing all their decorative pillows (Zoe and I were especially drawn to a pumpkin pillow), we headed to the dressing rooms. When I shop at European stores like Zara, I tend to size up a size or two just because I find they run smaller than American brands. I did this with my Primark clothes as well and it went just fine. I would say they definitely run on the small side so if you are unsure about a size, go one or two up (especially if you’re curvier like me).
In the end, I fell in love with the high-waisted, cropped jeans, oversized white sweater, and the suede ankle boots. These were the three items I purchased along with some fairy lights for my dorm room. My total was $59 and for the quality of the items, I was very pleased. Most of my jeans cost upwards of $60 on their own so to get a pair of jeans, boots, AND a sweater for under that price amazed me. I left Primark with a new outfit for the week and a plan to return to show more of my friends what they’re missing out on.
Check out the video of my adventure above!