Arcadia Group has quietly closed all of its Topshop/Topman franchise stores in South Africa in recent weeks, after parting ways with franchisee House of Busby.
Topshop’s international footprint shrank further earlier this month, after Arcadia cut ties with its Chinese licence partner Shangpin, having previously detailed plans to open up to 80 shops across mainland China.
The retail group closed its last Topshop store in South Africa – at Canal Walk shopping centre in Cape Town – at the end of last month, according to its social media posts.
At the end of June it had shut a further remaining six shops at:
■ V&A Waterfront, Cape Town;
■ Tyger Valley Shopping Centre, Cape Town;
■ Rosebank, Johannesburg;
■ Clearwater Mall, Johannesburg;
■ Menlyn Park Shopping Centre, Pretoria; and
■ The Mall of Africa, Waterfall City.
South African retailer House of Busby no longer lists Topshop as one of its brand partners on its website.
House of Busby had originally secured the exclusive franchise rights to launch Topshop stores in the country in 2012, when Topshop’s overseas expansion strategy was gathering pace.
At the same time Topshop signed an agreement with South African department store Edcon on operating Topshop concessions at its Edgars stores, which Busby supplied. These concessions have also since closed.
EG has contacted Arcadia for comment.
House of Busby is currently being acquired as part of a takeover by manufacturer and wholesaler Candur Active Value Investments, according to a filing from the Competition Commission of South Africa.
Both Edcon and House of Busby had recently been reviewing their store agreements and considering the financial performance of brand partners, as part of plans to cut costs in the tough domestic retail environment.
Last year Busby wound down its licence agreement with River Island and closed stores operating in partnership with retail brands Mango and Nine West.
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