Topshop stores across the country to close

Topshop stores across the country will close as a result of an agreement announced in London today.

The deal made with creditors of the Arcadia Group will result in more than 70 stores closing worldwide with the loss of at least 1,000 jobs.

Topshop operates 11 standalone stores in the US, including stores at The Americana complex in Glendale and The Grove in Los Angeles.

In a written statement Ian Grabiner, chief executive of Arcadia Group, said: “After many months of engaging with all our key stakeholders, taking on board their feedback, and sharing our turnaround plans, the future of Arcadia, our thousands of colleagues, and our extensive supplier base is now on a much firmer footing.”

Despite the closures and layoffs Grabiner insisted that the agreement would “inspire a renewed loyalty to our brands that will support the long-term growth of our business.”

The Arcadia deal is an insolvency agreement known in the UK as a ‘voluntary arrangement’. The deal involves the owners, Sir Philip Green and his wife, Lady Green, selling a stake in the business to their creditors and closing stores whilst also cutting rent payments on some 200 others.

Arcadia owns 570 standalone stores in the UK. Had today’s deal not gone through those stores and a further 17,000 jobs would have been at risk.

Green purchased Arcadia in 2002, later transferring the business to his wife, Tina Green. The Greens are residents of Monaco, an independent city-state on the French Mediterranean coastline that has no income tax.

In 2005 the Greens paid themselves a $1.5bn dividend, the biggest corporate payout in British history. As the business was registered to Tina Green in Monaco, no taxes were paid.

In 2016 another Green company, BHS collapsed with the loss of 11,000 jobs. The company’s pension plan listed a shortfall of more than $700m. A parliamentary committee later discovered that prior to the collapse the Greens had paid themselves a personal dividend similar to the $700m pension deficit. The committee’s report labelled the BHS affair as "the unacceptable face of capitalism", and placed full blame on the “incompetent and self-serving ownership of the company".

Despite the questions surrounding Green he was knighted in 2006 by then Prime Minister Tony Blair ‘for services to the retail industry’. In 2010 Blair’s successor David Cameron appointed Green an adviser on government efficiency.

In addition to Topshop, other retailers affected by today’s agreement include Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Burton Menswear and Miss Selfridge.

There is no word as yet on the closure process. A staff member at the Glendale location confirmed that while staff were aware of the impending closure they had yet to be provided with specific dates.