Is Topshop planning its own stores?

When Topshop closed its physical stores post-pandemic it was seen as a watershed moment in UK retail. And while it has returned to stores via deals with Liberty and John Lewis at home (plus Nordstrom in the US and Myer in Australia), it still doesn’t operate its own stores.

But is that set to change? A report in Retail Week said it has drafted in retail property advisory firm Vedra Group to help it expand its retail network. It cited a source close to the matter.

The brand is currently in Liberty’s London flagship and 32 John Lewis stores around the UK. But the fact that it’s talking to such an advisory firm suggests it’s looking for more than additional wholesale partnerships and could be considering opening Topshop (and Topman) branded stores.

The last time we saw standalone Topshop stores on high streets and in malls was 2021. Owner Arcadia had collapsed and the brand was sold to e-tail giant ASOS for £265 million. The webstore was absorbed into ASOS’s own site and all the stores closed with the famous Oxford Circus flagship now occupied by Ikea.

But with ASOS facing its own struggles, 2024 saw a majority stake in Topshop and Topman being sold to a vehicle owned by major ASOS shareholder Anders Holch Povlsen (the man behind the Bestseller business).

ASOS, now with a minority stake, continues to manage the brands and has reinvented Topshop since 2024.

Running its own stores would be a big job for ASOS as it’s a pureplay e-tailer with the occasional pop-up and those deals with Liberty, John Lewis and more being its only concessions to physical retail.

But Povlsen’s business has major physical store experience with a store estate of thousands of locations via the various brands the company owns.

Whether the latest Topshop development (which hasn’t been announced by ASOS) evolves into something remains to be seen though.