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

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

It will give the Swedish household furniture chain a existence at the coronary heart of London’s procuring district amid booming desire for its products because lockdown was lifted.

Topshop fell into administration final November after yrs of declining revenue. The brand was subsequently purchased by Asos, which declared plans to dispose of all physical stores.  

The deal is not the initially time the Swedish household furniture chain has attempted to transfer to Oxford Circus. Ikea previously sought to consider around British Residence Stores’ area on Oxford Avenue, and experienced also enquired about a internet site at a nearby  redevelopment on Cavendish Sq..

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

Administrators took around the company which owns the internet site final November immediately after the collapse of Sir Philip’s Arcadia style empire. They explored both sale and leasing choice prior to the deal with Ikea was agreed, according to React News.

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Team experienced also been intrigued in the internet site. But talks stalled because  Nike, an existing tenant in the building which will preserve its retailer open up, has a clause in its lease prohibiting a competitor from operating in the former Topshop space. 

Great Portland Estates, Criterion Money and Ramsbury all enquired about the internet site without talks progressing to a really serious issue.

Returns from the sale will be employed to reimburse senior loan company Apollo Money Administration. Leftover money will go intp plugging the £510m deficit in Arcadia’s pension plan. 

The deal for the Oxford Circus retailer follows an agreement with US real estate huge Trammell Crow for Arcadia’s former warehouse in Milton Keynes, as many Arcadia belongings are on the sector. 

Ikea did not reply to a request for remark.