Primark department store to open Thursday in Downtown Crossing

Primark, the massive Dublin-based retail store, was set to open its first U.S. mega-store in Boston’s Downtown Crossing on Thursday.

The European discount fashions store will be occupying 77,000 square feet in the Burnham building, an iconic space that has been vacant since Filene’s Basement closed in 2007.

Primark said in press releases it would employ 450 “fashion-minded” people at the location, recruited through a trio of job fairs at the Omni Parker House Hotel.

There are nearly 300 Primark locations across the pond, and there were plans to open seven more in the United States by the end of next year – two others in Massachusetts, at the Burlington Mall and the South Shore Plaza – according to a release.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh planned to meet with Primark executives at the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday morning.