And so the hits just keep on coming. It's no secret that retail has bore the brunt of the COVID crisis, but just as the post-lockdown light started to glimmer, a new darkness has befallen the industry as the Arcadia group becomes the latest retail casualty of COVID.
The group, which owns High Street giant Topshop has entered administration and looks likely to take the British retail institution of Debenhams along with it. While the group has seen many of its brands lost over the years, its flagship and most famous fast-fashion stalwart, Topshop, has always survived. Until now.
Retail analyst, Kate Hardcastle spoke to the BBC about what might have gone wrong for the High Street favourite, citing a lack of social media engagement, decreasing relevance to their customer, and the emergence of the likes of Primark and online players like Boohoo. Since June 2019, Maybe* has consistently found these factors to be a very real threat to Topshop.