Arcadia to offload flagship Topshop store

Arcadia Group has announced that Eastdil and Savills have been hired to oversee the sale of retail chain Topshop’s flagship store in central London.

According to Sky News, Eastdil will reportedly handle the sale strategy for the building, whilst Savills will advise on future leasing options.

It comes after the retail group collapsed in November, in a move that threatened over 12,000 jobs. Deloitte was appointed as administrator for the group, and has since been seeking buyers for the group’s assets.

Ian Grabiner, CEO of Arcadia, said at the time: “This is an incredibly sad day for all of our colleagues as well as our suppliers and our many other stakeholders. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic including the forced closure of our stores for prolonged periods has severely impacted on trading across all of our brands.

“Throughout this immensely challenging time our priority has been to protect jobs and preserve the financial stability of the group in the hope that we could ride out the pandemic and come out fighting on the other side. Ultimately, however, in the face of the most difficult trading conditions we have ever experienced, the obstacles we encountered were far too severe.”

He added: “Our priority now is to work closely with the administrators to deliver the best possible outcome for all our stakeholders, in particular our hard-working employees across the group. Throughout this process, trading will continue across all of our brands.

“Our stores will remain open or reopen when permitted under the Government Covid-19 restrictions, our online platforms will be fully operational and supplies to all of our partners will continue.”