Opening of flagship store in New York start of Topshop’s expansion in the US

The 40,000 sq ft Manhattan store is scheduled to open in the third quarter of this year on the corner of 49th Street, adjacent to the Rockefeller Center in a registered art deco building built by Henry Goelet in 1931.

Sir Philip has long sought a Fifth Avenue location.

It will be the Topshop brand’s second largest store in the world after the 90,000 sq ft British flagship on the corner of London’s Oxford and Regent Street. Several hundred new jobs will be created both within retail and new US head office operations based in New York.

Sir Philip will spend $40-$50m on fitting out the new Manhattan store as well as on store openings in San Diego and Washington in 2014, and in Houston and Atlanta in 2015.

Details of the rent he is paying were not disclosed.

Topshop/Topman currently trades from four stores in the US, including a first New York store which opened in 2009, and also trades within Nordstrom department stores.

“Following the investment of Leonard Green & Partners in December 2012, it was always our plan to significantly expand Topshop and Topman in the US,” said Sir Philip.

Sir Philip sold a 25 per cent stake to the US private equity firm in a deal that valued the popular high street chain at £2bn.

Globally, Topshop trades from around 500 stores, while Topman trades from about 400.

Last year, Sir Philip committed to opening more than 150 franchise stores outside the UK across the company’s brands, which include Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge and Burton as well as Topshop and Topman.

These openings were to include stores in Australia, Vietnam, Canada, with Topshop set to open its first stand-alone store in New Zealand this year.