What's New Venue: TopShop

What can we say about Topshop? It is one of the most coveted, moderately-priced fashion outlets on the planet and until now Beijing has been sadly deprived of their hip threads. While there has been an on and off series of pop-up shops in 798 and Dazhalan over the past couple of years, there has yet to be a perpetually open storefront you can visit any day of the week, and get decked out in the same hip threads as Kate Moss or the Duchess of Cambridge.

Journey over to Xidan to the Galleries Laffayette shopping center, where they now have a modestly-sized space ready for your patronage. If you’ve never taken the time to experience this shopping mall, it is five floors of luxury brands, meaning not much is available for under RMB 1,000. We don’t often find ourselves in this area of town to do our shopping, as it’s mainly for tourists, but we were pleasantly surprised at the brands represented here.

Topshop sits on the fourth floor. They have everything from tastefully distressed jeans (RMB 474), Ramones-styled leather jackets (RMB 1,997), and chic floral printed blouses (RMB 499). Since autumn is right around the corner, we were very much attracted to the Clint Eastwood-like poncho sized scarves they have for purchase. Perfect for the outlaw gunslinger that’s secretly inside us all.

We’re not crazy about the location. Why all the way out west? This area, though not terribly far, requires multiple subway changes, even though it isn’t very distant from the city center. It would have been much smarter to put it in Sanlitun, or somewhere equally accessible for those of us who enjoy this shop and live in these areas, but it’s possible that we are being a little too picky about this. The other, final complaint is: why no Topman?

Topshop. Daily 10am-10pm. 4/F, Galeries Lafayette, 110 Xidan Beidajie, Xicheng District (5962 9888). 西城区西单北大街110号老佛爷百货4层. 200m south of Lingjing Hutong station (Line 4)