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Shop staff formed a guard of honor for Penney’s founder Arthur Ryan as his funeral cortege passed the chain\u2019s first store.<\/p>\nShop staff formed a guard of honor for Penney’s founder Arthur Ryan as his funeral cortege passed the chain\u2019s first store.<\/p>\n
Mr Ryan, who died earlier in the week aged 83 after a short illness, opened the shop 50 years ago in Dublin.<\/p>\n
Penneys staff lined Jervis Street in central Dublin as the hearse carrying Mr Ryan passed by.<\/p>\n
They applauded in poignant tribute to a man hailed as a retail giant.<\/p>\n
Penneys had to change its name to Primark for European stores outside Ireland because JC Penney owned the copyright to the name.<\/p>\n
Half a century after its foundation, Primark now has 370 stores across 12 countries, employing 75,000 people.<\/p>\n
Mr Ryan was chief executive until 2009, stepping into the chairman\u2019s seat until his death, overseeing much of the expansion, including opening the first British Primark store in 1973.<\/p>\n
The boss also helped cement Primark\u2019s name on the UK high street, buying 120 former Littlewoods branches in 2005.<\/p>\n
The tribute to Mr Ryan outside the Penneys store came ahead of his funeral at the Church of the Scared Heart in Donnybrook in south Dublin.<\/p>\n
George Weston, chief executive of Primark\u2019s parent company Associated British Foods, this week said Mr Ryan would be remembered as a \u201cgreat giant of retailing.”<\/p>\n