Super-cheap clothing giant Primark opened its 192nd store this morning. The store is on Cambridge’s Burleigh Street, near the Grafton Centre.

The store, which covers 54,000 square feet, boasts “the most exciting and distinctive new fashion collections for men, women and children”, and will come as a great bonus to many of Cambridge’s bargain-hungry students.

Although one might expect nearby clothing stores to feel threatened by Primark’s opening, charity shops on Burleigh Street have welcomed the superstore’s arrival and hope it will increase trade in the area. Since the opening of the Grand Arcade, shoppers have been increasingly absent.

“Obviously we have ethical concerns about Primark but we’re mostly looking forward to seeing a bit more business on Burleigh Street. It’s a bit of a ghost town down here – they’re expecting 1000 people tomorrow morning,” said Rachael Middleton, manager of the Oxfam shop opposite Primark.

The Primark chain currently faces criticism from charities concerning its allegedly unethical production methods. War on Want have claimed that workers in three Bangladeshi factories toil for up to 80 hours a week, for as little as 7p an hour, leaving them well short of the £44.82 a month needed to escape hardship.

Human Resources Director Breege O’Donoghue told Varsity, “We share our factories with 98.3 per cent of our high street competitors. We work with the ETI. We’re not doing anything different to anyone else. We’re only being criticised because we’re a big retailer and we sell particularly affordable clothing”.

The chain claim to keep prices low by cutting costs in areas where their competitors splash out. They do not advertise or pursue endorsements, and don’t even play music in their stores. They rely on volume of sales instead of giant mark-ups to generate profit.