Topshop to close all US stores
Topshop is closing all of its U.S. stores after its operator, Arcadia Group, filed for bankruptcy, according to a report.
The British retailer was expected to begin liquidating inventory in 11 Topshop and Topman stores in the U.S. this weekend after announcing all locations in the nation will shutter their doors, the Wall Street Journal reported. Topshop opened its first U.S. store in New York City in 2009 and expanded to other cities including Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas, Houston and Chicago.
About 800 people are employed at these stores. The closing dates of all the locations were not released.
Arcadia is also planning to shut down 23 more stores in the U.K. and Ireland, the BBC reported.
Topshop announced its closing all its U.S. stores. (iStock)
The company’s chief executive Ian Grabiner said in a statement Wednesday that the closings were a “tough but necessary decision.”
There’s been an “increasing switch from in-store to online shopping and an aggressive discounting environment as retailers compete for customers [and] high levels of product returns,” the company’s foreign representatives, Daniel Francis Butters and Ian Colin Wormleighton said, according to the Journal.
Arcadia, which also operates several other brands including Outfit and Miss Selfridge, will now focus on driving its digital growth, revenue and making infrastructure improvements.
Topshop was embroiled in controversy in October 2018 when its owner, Philip Green, was accused of sexual harassment, racial abuse and bullying. Beyonce cut ties with Green about a month later and said her clothing line, Ivy Park, will no longer be sold at Topshop.
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Topshop adds to the growing list of retailers shutting down stores in the U.S. this year.
Payless ShoeSource announced it will close 2,300 stores by the end of June. Discount chain Fred’s said earlier this month that it will be closing more than 100 stores, while Dressbarn revealed it will be shutting down all its approximately 650 locations in a "wind down" of its retail operation.