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

Ikea is to buy the flagship Oxford Circus keep 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 heart of London’s procuring district amid booming desire for its items given that lockdown was lifted.

Topshop fell into administration last November after a long time of declining gross sales. The brand was subsequently purchased by Asos, which announced designs to dispose of all physical stores.  

The deal is not the initial time the Swedish household furniture chain has tried to transfer to Oxford Circus. Ikea beforehand sought to choose above British Dwelling Stores’ spot on Oxford Avenue, and had also enquired about a internet site at a nearby  redevelopment on Cavendish Square.

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

Administrators took above the company which owns the internet site last November soon after the collapse of Sir Philip’s Arcadia style empire. They explored both sale and leasing selection in advance of the deal with Ikea was agreed, in accordance to React News.

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Team had also been fascinated in the internet site. But talks stalled because  Nike, an current tenant in the constructing which will keep its keep open, has a clause in its lease prohibiting a competitor from working in the former Topshop house. 

Terrific Portland Estates, Criterion Cash and Ramsbury all enquired about the internet site devoid of talks progressing to a critical point.

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

The deal for the Oxford Circus keep follows an settlement with US real estate large Trammell Crow for Arcadia’s former warehouse in Milton Keynes, as numerous Arcadia assets are on the market place. 

Ikea did not react to a request for comment.