Topshop and Topman clothes will be sold in John Lewis shops thanks to a new partnership between the brands.
The retail giant closed all of its branches four years ago and was then bought by fellow fashion brand Asos, with all of its remaining stock sold through its website.
It comes weeks after Topshop, which is now majority owned by Danish company Bestseller, returned to physical stores with products in Liberty in central London.
Is Topshop coming back? Retailer returning to UK high streets
The partnership between John Lewis and Topshop comes as the former is investing significantly in its fashion business.
The department store chain is looking to drive its growth as it continues with a major transformation plan under boss Peter Ruis.
He said the brand, which is part of the John Lewis Partnership with supermarket chain Waitrose, is “very optimistic” ahead of the key Christmas period.
It is hoped the partnership with Topshop will attract more young people to its stores.
Mr Ruis, managing director of John Lewis, said: “We think this is something people will queue outside the door for.
“We have younger customers, beauty is a classic example of that, and John Lewis is multi-generational, but I think it will bring in more.
“It will bring more of those ‘family day out’ shoppers and as the only place to go for it, we will hopefully be driving customers who don’t always come through the door, across all age groups.”
UK High Street Shops That No Longer Exist
Michelle Wilson, managing director of Topshop, said: “The conversations we’ve had with customers around the relaunch is that people are desperate to see Topshop back in stores, so we do think we will bring customers into John Lewis that might not have come in before.”
What John Lewis stores in the UK will have a Topshop?
Today, John Lewis has confirmed that it will start selling Topshop products in 32 of its stores across the UK next year, with Topman products launching in six sites.
The full list of stores where Topshop products will be available is:
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Newcastle
- Leeds
- Liverpool
- Trafford, Manchester
- Cheadle, Manchester
- Cardiff, Wales
- Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
- Leicester, Leicestershire
- Solihull, West Midlands
- Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
- Norwich, Norfolk
- Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
- Welwyn, Hertfordshire
- Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire
- Chelmsford, Essex
- Cribbs Causeway, Bristol
- Exeter, Devon
- Oxford, Oxfordshire
- High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
- Reading, Berkshire
- Bluewater Kent
- Horsham, West Sussex
- Southampton, Hampshire
- Brent Cross, London
- Stratford, London
- Canary Wharf, London
- Oxford Street, London
- Peter Jones, London
- White City, London
- Kingston, London
Topshop first opened in the 1960s and in 1992 opened its flagship store in Oxford Circus.
Topshop’s owners the Arcadia Group went into administration in 2020 due to the pandemic’s impact on sales, and was bought by ASOS in February 2021, which now sells the brand’s clothing online.
The retail brand’s flagship store in London’s Oxford Street was sold to IKEA for £378 million.
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When it was at its peak, Topshop operated more than 500 outlets across the world, 300 of which were in the UK.
Topshop, as well as its male outlet Topman, were hugely popular, and its potential return to high streets shows its continued popularity to this day.
The latest move marks the first time customers across the UK will be able to see the brand in stores again after four years under the ownership of Asos.
