Topshop Sydney opens its doors

Around 30,000 people are expected to walk through the doors of British retail giant Topshop’s first Sydney store as it opens to the public today.

10:56AM, Oct 4

Occupying four floors of the heritage-listed Gowings building on the corner of George and Market streets, Topshop and TopMan’s flagship Australian store (there is already one in Melbourne) was inundated by eager shoppers as the doors opened to the public at 9am.

Some particularly enthusiastic people even camped outside overnight, encouraged by the offer of a $500 voucher to the first 20 people inside the store on opening day.

Sydney hasn’t seen such buzz around the opening of a retail store since Topshop’s main competitior Zara opened in Pitt St mall last year. But does it live up to the hype?

CLEO was given a preview tour of the store yesterday and can confirm Topshop Sydney offers the same high-energy and competitive shopping experience as its international counterparts. After a few minutes of rustling through the racks and riding the escalators to various levels of retail heaven, we had to remind ourselves we weren’t in fact at the Topshop store at Oxford Circus, London.

The in-store prices are also comparable to those of the online store. A quick search of Topshop.com for a jacket we eyed-off in the Sydney store found it costs just AUD$6 more to buy it on the spot than online, including shipping. When you consider the convenience of buying and wearing a garment on the same day and being able to try it on, it seems a pretty fair deal.

And don’t think for a second that Australian Topshop will simply be stocked with the leftovers of international stores. Topshop’s Global Creative Director Kate Phelan told Channel Nine News "[Australian Topshop stores] have stuff even the UK don’t have yet".

Topshop Sydney boasts the same specialised departments international shoppers have come to love including Dress Up, Petite, Tall, Make Up, Unique and Collaborations. A complimentary Personal Shopping service is also being rolled-out, with Sydney being just the 4th city in the world to offer the service beyond London and New York.

Topshop’s success lies in its ability to produce reasonably priced on-trend fashion at an almost terrifying rate. With new stock landing on the store floor daily, Australian retailers are no doubt preparing to lift their game in light of the British invasion.

By Erin Van Der Meer

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