Topshop site a sought- after location
Retailers locally and internationally will be lining up for Topshop’s site on Auckland’s Queen St if a buyer is not found for the company, says Heart of the City.
The Auckland business association’s chief executive, Viv Beck, said she was aware of a number of international retailers that had been considering locations in Auckland, although she would not be drawn on who they were, citing commercial sensitivity.
“Obviously we hope they find a buyer, but it is a prime spot. If they don’t, we would expect it would be tenanted pretty quickly.”
Top Retail, which operates Topshop and Topman in New Zealand, appointed receivers on Thursday after its directors said the company was unable to continue trading amid mounting losses in a competitive environment.
The company being tipped into receivership was not an indication of the retail environment in Auckland’s central business district, Beck said. “The growth we’re seeing i s quite significant. There’s been a 49 per cent growth in retail spending in the city centre since 2010 so it’s now $ 1.8 billion a year in terms of retail spending in the CBD.
“The number of pedestrians on Queen St has doubled since 2012 so it’s a growing market and it’s changing day by day.”
Given the short supply of commercial property in the built- up area, Beck said demand for sites was high.
Growth in the city was also resulting in a changing retail demographic, and a lot of high- end international brands were opening in lower Queen St. The Commercial Bay development in downtown Auckland was expected to be completed in 2019. “It wasn’t too many years ago that
people would have looked at Queen St and thought it had only a particular type of store but that has changed in a very short space of time, so it’s a sign of a growing market and a positive story for Auckland,” Beck said. “There’s a lot of appeal here.” Topshop’s woes follow similar issues in the Australian brand, which resulted in it being placed in voluntary administration in May.
Two weeks ago, receivers said a successful restructure of the brand had been completed, with British billionaire and “king of the high street” Sir Philip Green, buying the local assets of Topshop Australia and planning to relaunch the brand.
The Australian reported that Green had been in talks with the company since May after initially selling the Australian franchise of his Topshop and Topman chains to a group of local investors including department store Myer.
Topshop first opened in Australia in 2011. Last year it made a loss of A$ 3m ($ 3.3m). It is unclear whether the British owner would step in for the New Zealand company.