TOPSHOP In Toronto

TOPSHOP is one of those stores that’s on the list of many a fashion-lover. If you’re going to Britain or even to New York, it’s the store to get trendy, affordable pieces and maybe even a little of that Kate Moss magic.

So there was excitement when TOPSHOP announced earlier this year they would start shipping to Canada. It got even better with the news that TOPSHOP was setting up shop at Jonathan+Olivia in Toronto. The store within a store will carry the TOPSHOP main line, Unique+Boutique and the Kate Moss collection.

I got the chance to talk with owner Jackie O’Brien who told me that she and the TOPSHOP team starting talking in December 2009 about bringing the brand to Canada. Once the decision was made, it then became a matter of paring down the massive selection.

“I spent time at the Oxford store [TOPSHOP’s flagship store in the UK] looking at the merchandize,” says O’Brien. “I’d look at a wall and go, “that one” or “Not that wall.” Then it was a matter of choosing what would work for Jonathan + Olivia.”

The capsule store is 800-square feet of carefully-chosen clothing and shoes. O’Brien plans on having new items every two weeks and will have new lines on the same schedule as TOPSHOP in the UK. In fact, if you can’t make it out this week, there will be new clothes in next week. Yes, the turnaround is that fast. If you like something, buy it since I predict that stock isn’t going to last long. On a personal note, the jackets are amazing.

Whether this is the first step to a free-standing store is yet to be determined, but when TOPSHOP was feeling out the U.S. market, it set up shop in Opening Ceremony in New York before expanding to its own store.

Keep your fingers crossed for the same result here.

You can get your style fix from Saturday June 19th. Jonathan + Olivia is located at 49 Ossington Street.