Primark is to provide a “mainstream” alternative to high-end French fashion after signing for its first two stores in the country, and it is now scouting for more shops.

The value fashion retailer has agreed to open its first store in France in the Grand Littoral mall in Marseilles.

The Marseille shop will open in December, followed by a second store in Dijon in eastern France, The Telegraph reported.

Primark is also scouting stores on the edge of Paris where most had expected the retailer to begin its expansion in France.  

Primark’s parent Associated British Foods’ finance director John Bason said: “France is well known for its high-end labels but there’s a mainstream as well.

“We know the French like Primark from the credit card receipts in our Oxford Street store and from the business we do at our German store in Saarbrucken, which is close to the border.”

He added: “We will bring the fashions the French want, at the lowest prices and in a great store environment.”

Primark first revealed it was to expand into France last September and laid out plans to open six or seven stores by 2014.

Primark has been under scrutiny since the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh, which housed suppliers to the retailer among others and killed more than 1,200 workers, in April.