Fueled by my Topshop high, especially after a trip to the Oxford Circus flagship location -- an exhaustive, cavernous 100,000-square-foot fashion emporium (this location alone pulls in
$292 million a year) that features three floors, 200 changing rooms, a hair salon, nail parlor, eyebrow bar, make-up stations, personal style consultants who will deliver your goods to you via SCOOTER and an entire section devoted to CANDY! -- I returned to Amurica more excited than ever (especially after the dollar is worth about as much as a Chuck E Cheese token over there) for Topshop to arrive stateside. As it turns out, my superficial prayers have been answered, because...
TOPSHOP IS COMING TO NEW YORK IN SEPTEMBER 2008!
478 Broadway near Broome Street in SohoDrapers confirmed it in November 2007, as did WWD, but those bastards make you pay to play. Good think the awesome Racked scooped it back in October 2007, complete with location, photos and all!
The premiere USA Topshop will be located at:
That's currently the site (see my helpful Google map below!) of the dreadful Yellow Rat Bastard, and while it's sorta sad to see another Soho staple go (like when Canal Jeans because Bloomingdales [Co-op]), let's be honest -- Soho isn't even a shell of its former self, AND, hello IT'S GONNA BE A FUCKING TOPSHOP! And, while the two H&Ms (I wonder how they'll fare as a result of the Topshop traffic -- will they benefit from the predictable spillover, or will there be Topshop-induced tumbleweeds a-blowin'?), Muji, Bloomie's, CB2, et al have made navigating Broadway del Sur an Inferno-esque nightmare, I again refer back to my original point: TOPSHOP IS COMING TO NEW YORK!
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Anyway...
Hundreds of fashionistas lined up outside Barneys just to get their hands on Kate Moss' capsule pieces last year. And recall the veritable affordable-fashion riots that H&M's New York arrival generated. (Think Beatlemania, except instead of 1964, it's 2008, and instead of the Beatles coming down off the plane onto the Tarmac, imagine super cute $16.90 graphic print dresses and $48 skinny jeans! Yay! Then imagine people getting trampled to death! Boo. ) I can only imagine the scene the opening of Topshop -- by the way, they say September, and even though construction has already begun, who knows if the schedule will hold up, though if I were Sir Phillip Green, I'd be rarin' to get this puppy off the ground. And if this article, which details how the Oxford Circus location prepared for its biggest shopping day of the year, is any indication of how the Big Reveal will be handled, I'm sure the kids will have it on lockdown. Which doesn't mean I won't skip the opening ceremonies (unless I get a personal invite of course, which, if you're reading, Topshop PR peeps, I would GRACIOUSLY accept!) and wait until the 11th hour of the following Tuesday night before I hit it up. But only because I fear for my personal safety.
More Topshop love and linkage:
+ June 2006: The Times treads cautiously. (Fuck 'em! I'll skip 'em in line!)
+ May 2007:The Independent takes a look at Topshop's ascent to retail victory.
+ September 2007: The New Zealand Herald explores how totes good marketing turned the once cheesy chain into a fashion giant.
And finally, Catwalkqueen reveals Topshop's Spring 2008 designer collabos: Jonathan Saunders and Louise Goldin. Coming later this month, Christopher Kane, which should beat the high-waisted pants off Kate Moss' rather "meh" collection. Now, hurry the hell up, Topshop, and expatriate already!!!!
