Topshop to Close All US Stores
Topshop is closing all of its U.S. stores after its operator, Arcadia Group, filed for bankruptcy. 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. Topshop adds to the growing list of retailers shutting down stores in the U.S. this year.
Total Retail's Take: Topshop's management cited oft-heard reasons for closing its physical stores, including an increasing shift to online shopping vs. in-store shopping; aggressive discounting fueled by a competitive environment, which eroded product margins; and high levels of product returns, which are particularly high in Topshop's category, apparel. While it had a limited physical footprint in the U.S., Topshop's store closings add to a growing total for 2019. In fact, more retail stores have closed in the first five months of 2019 than in all of 2018.
