Failure to launch: Topshop forgets Jonathan and Olivia
After The Bay announced that they’d be welcoming “the first” Topshop in Canada yesterday, Jackie O’Brien was understandably irritated. The co-owner of Jonathan and Olivia was understanding of the need for franchising, but perturbed by The Bay’s dissociating her from Toronto’s Topshop introduction. Today, O’Brien indirectly responds to her critics in a press release, stating, “Topshop approached us over 18 months ago to test the Canadian market, as they considered us to be the leading independent retailer.”
Even if Jonathan and Olivia’s June 2010 launch was not so well documented, we still can’t see how a huge cash cow like Topshop could forget the only store-in-store in Toronto. This, however, is big business versus an indie darling, and sometimes the underdog is either the victor or, as is in this case, forgotten. We’re just happy to give credit where credit is due. And we do wonder if this is the start of #TeamJonathanandOlivia versus #TeamBay.
Maybe if the clothing wasn’t 4 times the price people would be more willing to shop at Jonathan & Olivia. I was at Top Shop in England last October, got a jacket from last season on sale for 15 pound (on a clearance) when I was shopping in Toronto a week later saw the same Top Shop jacket at Jonathan & Olivia for $350. Things that make ya go hummmmmmmm.
How can J+O control the sale price of a garment in another country?
Jonathan and Olivia is extremly overpriced compared to the target customers of Topshops in Europe. I was in the Topshop in Warsaw, Poland and they had quality for a good affordable price. I am excited to see how Topshop will affect The Bay…
“Indie darling” you may be but back that up with reasonable pricing for your indie fans. J&O has hugely inflated prices compared to other local boutiques.
Vic, here’s a clue… Europe. they have free movement of labour and goods, whereas here in Canada there are import duties. Everything from Europe is more expensive here than there and strangely enough vice versa, great comment otherwise…
That part about duties and taxes making things here expensive is not always true. A lot of boutique owners like to throw that around because then we blame someone else.
Check out the price of a book next time you’re in Chapters/ Indigo and look at the Euro/ UK price and the canadian dollar price … I suppose the book shops are in on this big scam too.
J & O is incredibly overpriced, and the argument about import taxes is useless when you consider a comparable retailer like Zara. Zara hails from Spain, but the pricing in Canada is very close to European pricing. Back in the 90s I worked for TopShop (Oxford Circus location). My experience was that the target market and quality is equivalent to what you’d find at Le Chateau or Zara.
When it was announced last year that TopShop was hitting Canada via J & O I was thrilled. But after seeing the ridiculous prices at J & O I never went back. Very disappointing. TopShop should have picked a lower-priced retailer in Toronto to test the market. Don’t know what they were thinking putting it into a store that sells a great deal of merch at the $500+ price point when the quality just isn’t there.
For now I’ll stick with Zara for the same-ish clothing.
Yes Topshop and Topman are ridiculously over-priced at J&O, especially given the fact that Topshop.com ships to Canada now. You can buy everything available there at UK High Street prices. with a low, flat shipping price. Even after duties are charged (which Canada Customs often doesn’t levy) it is still WAY cheaper to shop online. Frankly, I am delighted that the Bay is bringing an awesome clothing line to Canada with a more comprehensive offering. I just hope the pricing is competitive with the online prices….otherwise the most astute shoppers would be best advised to try it on at The Bay and buy it online….as one should currently do with the J&O offering.
I concur Jonathan & Olivia’s prices are over-inflated and pretentious. It’s embarrassing.
Yes there should realize the opportunity to RSS commentary, quite simply, CMS is another on the blog.
J+O’s prices are high but so is the quality of clothing that they sell. Topshop was not suited there because the pricing was so low that it made no sense with their regular merchandise. It is stupid to say that they are pretentious. If you don’t like their prices then don’t go there. There are many shops around the city that carry similar brands and have the exact same prices as Jonathan and Olivia. TNT, Nomad, etc… I rarely buys items from their store because it is not in my budget but their boutique is stunning and the buying is fabulous. Also, the pricing is fair!!
I was going to say that Top shop is like Zara or Le Chateau , high end looks with low quality, but someone beat me to it. I don’t know why J+O thought they could ever push that junk onto their customers in the first place as weel as inflate the price of it. J(O isn’t cheap but their pricing is about the same as other retailers that carry the same brands. I don’t shop in stores like J+O to buy things that I could purchase at H&M.
J + O sells garbage merchandise at high prices and then refuses to refund the money. I bought a $499.00 leather and fabric top there. When I took it home I realized that the leather had a bad rubbery smell. I checked where it was made and it turned out it was made in China , which explains the bad smell. Don’t shop in that store – you might get stuck with substandard merchandise made in China . I lost $563 including HST. Disgusting!!!