French special forces are hunting three gunmen who took 18 hostages at a Primark store in Paris.

The gunmen entered the Primark store in Villeneuve-la-Garenne, northwest of the French capital, at 6:30am local time, sources said.

According to Le Figaro, quoting a police source, a Primark employee sent a text message to a friend at 7am saying he was being held hostage by two armed men.

Special police units surrounded the clothes store, police said. Shutters at other stores in the precinct remained closed.

Le Parisien newspaper said that up to 18 hostages had been held.

It is understood all have been released but the gunmen are at large.

The paper quoted witnesses who said people ran near the store screaming: "They are armed, they are armed."

"Around 6:30 am (05:30 GMT), two or three armed criminals went into the Primark store for what we think was initially an attempt at armed robbery," a police source said.

Primark trades as Penneys in Ireland.

Primark also have operations in Spain, The Netherlands, Portugal, Germany Belgium and Austria.