14 DAY TRIAL // It only takes one shopping trip and you're completely addicted. That's the way it worked for me and for just about all my friends who braved the distance, went shopping in the UK and were wise - or crazy - enough to cross the threshold of at least one Topshop store. With its distinctively cutting-edge styles at affordable prices, Topshop is one of the UK's leading high street fashion retailers, and Sir Phillip Green, owner of the store franchise, has decided that a move stateside is the next logical step. So, good news for all the American fans of the funky British brand: come mid-October, you will be able to spend a lot of time and an even greater amount of money in the first-ever US Topshop store, located in New York, at 478 Broadway.
The brand has big plans for its New York flagship store: the 40,000-square-foot store will have four floors, glossy shelves, and an overall futuristic layout, with lighting tubes and a DJ booth suspended from the ceiling. The store designers also plan to equip this first US mega-shop with a shoe lounge, a lot of changing rooms and the obligatory VIP suite for the much sought-after celebrity clientele. Let's not forget one thing: Topshop and its complementary men's brand Topman are not luxury designer brands but rather a moderate-to-better-priced store - however, the managers plan to offer services to rival those of luxury retailers, with stylists available to offer personalized advice for men and women.
The owner of the store is in fact planning to infuse his new New York outpost with a distinctive British air. "This is going to be Topshop in all its glory, identical. It's not going to be Americanized. It will be London transferred to New York", Sir Philip Green revealed. One of the distinctive traits of the Topshop brand in Europe is its high versatility and constant, almost daily infusion of new styles. Some of the biggest sellers for Topshop - which have become staple styles for the brand - have been the oversize T-shirts (priced between $30 and $40), and the "drain pipe-style" jeans ($40 to $60 a pair). Topshop is also famous for its prom dresses, Cabaret-inspired silhouettes, clown collars, bows and belts, as well as its Art Deco-inspired prints. Stay tuned for more news on the big October Topshop launch.