We went to Brum Primark at 3am the night lockdown ended and it was better than clubbing

Still managed to get a game of bogies in, though


To celebrate the end of lockdown, and to catch up on the lost Christmas shopping time, Birmingham’s Primark announced that it would be staying open for a whole 24 hours on December 2nd.

Having been cooped up for so long, and without Snobs to keep us occupied in the early hours of the morning, me and my housemates decided and at 3am to see what all the fuss was about.

After a quick power nap we got our masks at the ready, Christmas songs on and off we went. We arrived at the shopping centre at about 3:20 to literally no queue. Considering the amount of nationwide news coverage Primark got, we were all shocked.

“I was expecting it to be really busy, going to Primark at 3am is a bit of a one chance experience,” my housemate Issy told me as we passed through the blue glow of the empty entrance.

The atmosphere was calm, as the store was quiet. A far cry from the normal busy, and slightly overwhelming, energy you usually get in a Primark. Out of the roughly 30 people that were there it was clear most of them were making up for lost Christmas shopping time over lockdown.

As always, Primark had a vast selection of Christmas treats and gifts perfect for your Secret Santas, presents for friends and family or just the excuse to treat yourself to a new Christmas jumper from their huge range. They even had Christmas outfits for pets too, meaning you can get your cats or dogs in the Christmas spirit.

Featured in the Christmas jumpers was a light up, singing jumper. It was great at first, but became far less novel after my housemate had carried it round pressing the button for about half an hour.

And you know what? The Primark home section never disappoints. The candles actually smell and look good considering they’re so cheap. They do have some less attractive home decor, on the other hand. Not to slate anyone who owns one of these “home signs” but, let’s be honest, these are as bad as the “live, laugh, love” signs.

Considering how empty the shop was, and the fact that you will literally never be in a basically empty Primark in your whole life, we decided to take advantage and have a bit of fun.

We spotted what could only have been THE Billie Eilish doing a bit of Christmas shopping in the coat section of Primark. Luke was too scared to go and ask for an autograph. Maybe because this was just a man with a similar haircut and we were in the suburbs of Brum at 3am so the chances of a pop superstar being there were incredibly slim, but still. At least he came to Primark at 3am with me for a story.

Also being in Tier 3 post lockdown was clearly hitting a lot of people quite hard. We bumped into some of our friends, clearly also missing Snobs, who took Primark to be their night out of choice after pres. Night out in the belt section? Yes please.

On the way we had a good old reminisce about the classic CBBC show starring Dick and Dom and their iconic game bogies so decided to have a bit of fun. We did get some weird looks but the face masks were to our advantage here. No one can see your mouth moving when you talk, so if you direct your weird looks back at the person staring at you it’s just like that Spiderman meme and you don’t get caught.

Despite all of that we don’t think Kevin quite understood the game.

We decided to have a bit of a laugh considering it was so empty and so I gave my housemates the task of creating the worst outfit they could find. Primark is known for its *questionable* fashion sense sometimes and these outfits Luke and Kevin created are really no exception. It’s the Harry Potter wreath necklace for me.

Kevin’s outfit was a tad more scandalous but it’s 2020. Who says you can’t leave the house in a push up bra and leopard leggings? After some persuasion, it was decided that’s actually his next outfit for when we can finally return to Fab.

In fact, the shop was so empty that the changing rooms being closed for Covid reasons wasn’t even an issue. You could try on your new PJs in the luxury of the deserted aisles.

It was a strange experience to see Primark so deserted – it felt jarring, like seeing a rugby lad walk down Tiv without stash on. But, despite that, it got us all in a Christmassy mood.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

Primark in Birmingham will be open for 24 hours today

‘The prices were the same’: This Brum student was one of the first back inside Primark

You can now shop PRIMARK on Amazon and get it delivered the NEXT DAY