Topshop. Grow up with your fans.
Topshop is back after five years, inside John Lewis, because the Topshop customer has been hiding there. The best comeback is to grow up with your fans.
THE GIST ON TOPSHOP: "I'll Be Back"
Where has Topshop come back?
Topshop is back after five years away, inside John Lewis, because the Topshop customer has been hiding there for the last five years.
The Arcadia group collapsed in 2021 and took Topshop down with it. ASOS bought it out of administration for 256 million pounds and sold 75% of it three years later for 135 million. For five years Topshop only existed online, until last month, when it launched inside 32 John Lewis stores.
Who is the Topshop customer now?
Topshop's heyday was the early 2000s. The Oxford Street flagship was colossal and the core customer was women aged 16 to 25. An 18 year old queuing for jeans in 2007 is now 37. There are kids, probably a mortgage, school uniforms to buy. You go to John Lewis for bedding, and ASOS just put Topshop next to the bedding.
How is this different from other comebacks?
Most brand comebacks chase the original vibe. They bring back the logo, tap into nostalgia and pray the old fans turn up. ASOS asked a different question entirely: where are those fans now? Then they showed up next door.
Is this the new playbook?
For heritage brands, yes. A standalone flagship is a luxury and a risk that most reviving brands can't afford, so meet your customers where they are. The best way to come back from the dead is to grow up with your fans. What other brand from your teens is about to find you?
Would you shop at Topshop again?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
Where can you buy Topshop now?
Inside 32 John Lewis stores, launched last month, after five years of only existing online.
What happened to Topshop?
Arcadia collapsed in 2021. ASOS bought Topshop out of administration for 256 million pounds and sold 75% of it three years later for 135 million.
Why John Lewis?
The core 2000s Topshop customer, aged 16 to 25 then, is around 37 now, with kids and a mortgage, and shops at John Lewis.
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