Topshop Pops Up in Cape Town

From July until the end of September, British high-street giant Topshop and corresponding men's wear label Topman have set up a pop-up store in Cape Town. Occupying 400 square feet on the second floor of the hip men's wear boutique, Unknown Union, the pop-up features a selection of the current spring merchandise, with prices as close as possible to the U.K. and U.S. prices, according to Sean Shuter, director of Unknown Union.

“I’d done some design projects for Topshop over the years,” Shuter explained, “so we knew each other already. They’d seen our store in Cape Town, and were impressed. Around four months ago, they approached us about doing a pop-up shop.”

Shuter, a New Yorker living in Cape Town, established Unknown Union last year, tapping celebrated New York architect Rafael de Cardenas of Architecture at Large to design a quirky and vibrant space for an international roster of exclusive men's wear labels such as Pendleton, RxMance, Naked and Famous, as well as its own in-house brand.

Pop-ups are nothing new to Topshop. “They’ve done this before in places like New York and Chicago,” he said. “This is a way to test the market and generate a buzz.”

It seems to have paid off. On opening day last week, more than 700 customers had come to the store and snapped up what they could of the summer stock, the local cold weather notwithstanding. The best-selling pieces thus far? “For the men, it’s the jerseys at South African Rands 490 ($60) and for women, the leggings, priced at South African Rands 350 ($42).