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THE RETAILER WAS FORCED TO ONLINE-ONLY TRADING IN 2021 16:39, 04 Jun 2025 Topshop, a popular fashion brand that dominated British high streets for more than 50 years before vanishing, could

be making an unexpected comeback. Founded in 1964, Topshop had more than 500 stores across the world at the height of its fame and was one of the most prominent names on the British high

street in the 90s and 00s. By 2019 Topshop and Topman saw their full-year pre-tax losses build to £505.1 million, and following the Covid 19 pandemic, they shut up Topshop in 2021. After the

collapse, fellow fashion brand ASOS bought Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge for a combined price of £330m. Late last year, ASOS sold a 75% stake in the brand to a Danish company, which

didn't seem like encouraging news. At the time of the deal, Asos said it intended to relaunch Topshop.com and Topman.com by summer 2025, currently slated for August this year. In the

years since, the Topshop name has traded online under buyer ASOS, but with no high-street presence. Until now. It has been confirmed that the retailer will have a permanent store presence

"at some point". Speaking to Drapers about future plans for physical stores, Topshop managing director Michelle Wilson said: "That's something that we're working on

all the time. Article continues below "In the shorter term that will be something with partner support and in the longer term we will do something standalone." Ms Wilson added that

the return of Topshop will begin through working with wholesale partnerships from this August, before relaunching standalone stores. She said: "We have something planned in August to

bring Topshop back into real life again, with a more semi-permanent presence than the one-day pop-up." Article continues below Speaking on customer expectations, knowing what this will

look like on a permanent basis is a complex task: "I wouldn't say we're trying to recreate what Topshop was, it’s taking the best of Topshop and then bringing that into today.

So it's hard to say exactly what it would look like." Online stores like ASOS, Shein and Boohoo all contributed to the demise of Topshop, a fate potentially shared by other

high-street veterans like New Look, as recent store closures impacted several locations up and down the country, including Gateshead. High-street closures are a common occurrence these days,

with online ordering playing a major role in the shrinking of the in-person shopping experience. Despite that, when Topshop held a popup earlier this year, the popularity saw lines snake

out of the store, so perhaps nostalgia is a powerful marketing tool.