Topshop Opens Flagship In Chicago

Topshop Opens Flagship in Chicago

CHICAGO

-- For Topshop, the long wait is over.

After opening its first U.S. store in New York more than two years ago, the fast-fashion British retailer took its sweet time testing the waters, waiting until Thursday to unveil its second and largest U.S. flagship along Michigan Avenue here.

But this flashy, high-profile store is no second banana, said Sir Philip Green, the owner of Arcadia Group, parent company of Topshop and its men's sibling Topman.

"For us, this is a game changer," Green said of the 49,000-square-foot corner building with 35,000 square feet of selling space. "It moves the brand on. This is a presence on one of the best streets in the world. It's a statement."

Topshop definitely made its presence known Thursday, blocking off a side street to Michigan Avenue for an outdoor fashion show that attracted a collection of onlookers three people thick snapping pictures with their cell phones. Green then christened the Topshop/Topman store with Miley Cyrus in tow before a gaggle of photographers and hundreds of eager shoppers lining the street.

Some customers, like Meredith Lee, a 24-year-old graduate student, waited two hours to be one of the first to enter the store. "It's very exciting. I like the sparkles," she said, spying all the sequined clothes at the store's atrium entrance.

While Green said Topshop's New York store on Broadway in SoHo is more of a destination, there's no missing the Windy City Topshop/Topman flagship with its floor-to-ceiling glass-and-black-coated...