Topshop New York countdown

American fashionistas will be counting down the hours until Topshop opens its fashion-forward doors at its first US store in New York this Thursday. Situated on Broadway in trendy SoHo, the UK conglomerate will be showing the US a thing or two about English styling, filling its shelves with hot labels such as Kate Moss for Topshop, Jonathan Saunders for Topshop, Vanessa da Silva for Topshop, not to mention its own-label of delectable dresses, must-have shoes, the latest trends and best affordable accessories.

The Broadway store is Topshop owner Sir Philip Green's first foray for Topshop in the U.S., and is amongst the most anticipated retail openings in years. SoHo hasn’t seen such a retail phenom since Bloomingdale’s opened its annex for contemporary fashion in 2004, reported Womenswear Daily on Tuesday.

“This is genuinely the best store we have ever built,” said Sir Philip Green, the flamboyant owner of Arcadia Group, parent company of Topshop told WWD during a preview of the site. “We see this as a launchpad for a business in America.”

Mirroring the Oxford Circus flagship in London, the four-level, 40,000-square-foot space, with 28,000 square feet for selling, is an eyeful of energetic, packed merchandising with about 2,000 stockkeeping units, a broad price range from moderate to bridge, and dozens of mannequins and forms, either dangling from the high, 30-foot ceilings or sitting atop the alcoves. It’s a wide store with columns and escalators, huge colorful illustrations of London icons, and theatrically lit Topshop marquees. Above all, it’s the product, and not so much the architecture or decor, that does the talking.

Kate Moss is rumoured to be cutting the ribbon at the opening ceremony on Thursday. The opening weekend will bring customers complementary beauty treatments, sweet treats, special guest DJs and an introduction into a world of stylish and affordable clothes as far as the eye can see.