IKEA to buy Topshop's former flagship store on Oxford Street

Following the collapse of his retail empire, Topshop tycoon Sir Philip Green will raise $534 million (Rp7.6 trillion) from the sale of the iconic three-storey Topshop Oxford Street flagship store to IKEA, bringing Topshop's 56-year tenancy on the street to an end.

With this deal, the Swedish furniture brand will have a new London home in the now-vacant 100,000 sq ft Topshop outlet as well as a NikeTown store and a shop for footwear brand Vans, located in the premier high street of Oxford. 

Forbes says this deal is considered as “the last piece of Arcadia Group’s controversial bankruptcy process” after it went into administration in November last year. Last February, Topshop was acquired by online fashion retailer ASOS for $364 million, but the deal did not include Topshop’s physical stores.

Meanwhile, IKEA notices a sales boost and growth as people are staying home due to the pandemic, hence they spend more on home improvement. As reported by Reuters, IKEA’s pretax profit grew 13% to $2.36 billion in November 2020, up from a mere 5% in the previous fiscal year.

IKEA has attempted to move to Oxford Circus several times and it previously sought to take over British Home Stores’ location on Oxford Street. It had also enquired about a site at a nearby redevelopment on Cavendish Square.

If the deal goes through, most of the returns from the sale will be used to reimburse Apollo Capital Management, a private equity firm which lent against the building in 2019, while the remainder will go to Arcadia Group’s pension scheme.