Shop Talk

Earlier this month, the Giorgio Armani label unveiled a new retail tower in Tokyo’s glitzy Ginza district. To celebrate the opening, the designer hosted a two-day series of events, attended by such celebrities as Cate Blanchett. WWD.com reported that the new Armani Tower includes approximately 65,000 feet of retail space over 12 floors and 2 basement levels, and houses the Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani, and Armani Casa collections. The tower also includes the brand’s first spa, an Italian restaurant, showrooms, the new Japanese corporate headquarters, and — nice touch — an Armani Privé bar.

Soon to be crossing to this side of the ocean is British retailer Topshop. But wait — we Canadians can’t jump up and down just yet, since the cheap, chic clothing chain has only secured a retail location stateside, in New York’s SoHo. WWD.com stated that the store, at 478 Broadway, will replace Yellow Rat Bastard, a cutting-edge skateboard store that has two other locations in the metropolitan area. The new Topshop store will be anywhere from 60,000 to 90,000 square feet, though neither Yellow Rat Bastard nor Topshop were able to confirm details at press time.

In more retail news, Bebe Stores Inc. has announced that it will cease to buy product incorporating animal fur.

According to Forbes.com, Bebe CEO Gregory Scott stated, “Over the past year … we are proud to say that we have dramatically reduced the use of animal fur to less than 3 percent of our product offering, and now look forward to completely eliminating animal fur from our orders beginning in January 2008.”

Now that’s news we can all be happy about.