March 29, 2024

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Passion For Business

Ikea to open flagship Oxford Street store at site of shuttered Topshop

Ikea is to buy the flagship Oxford Circus store occupied by Topshop in a £385m deal pursuing the collapse of Sir Philip Green’s retail empire.

It will give the Swedish home furnishings chain a presence at the coronary heart of London’s buying district amid booming demand for its products considering the fact that lockdown was lifted.

Topshop fell into administration very last November after yrs of declining sales. The manufacturer was subsequently bought by Asos, which introduced strategies to dispose of all physical stores.  

The deal is not the first time the Swedish home furnishings chain has tried to go to Oxford Circus. Ikea previously sought to choose about British Dwelling Stores’ place on Oxford Street, and had also enquired about a web-site at a nearby  redevelopment on Cavendish Square.

The deal provides Topshop’s fifty six-12 months tenancy on the road to an finish. It moved to Oxford Circus in 1965. 

Directors took about the company which owns the web-site very last November immediately after the collapse of Sir Philip’s Arcadia fashion empire. They explored both sale and leasing option in advance of the deal with Ikea was agreed, according to Respond Information.

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group had also been fascinated in the web-site. But talks stalled because  Nike, an present tenant in the setting up which will preserve its store open up, has a clause in its lease prohibiting a competitor from functioning in the former Topshop house. 

Excellent Portland Estates, Criterion Cash and Ramsbury all enquired about the web-site without the need of talks progressing to a major position.

Returns from the sale will be utilized to reimburse senior lender Apollo Cash Administration. Leftover resources will go intp plugging the £510m deficit in Arcadia’s pension plan. 

The deal for the Oxford Circus store follows an settlement with US authentic estate giant Trammell Crow for Arcadia’s former warehouse in Milton Keynes, as quite a few Arcadia assets are on the market. 

Ikea did not reply to a request for comment.