[Xi Jie's Travel Notes] London Summer Sale You Can't Miss

This travel note is some notes from Xi Jie's 14-day trip in June 2012 as part of the Rayli Olympic reporter team interviewing Olympic champions, taking everyone to explore London.

Before the travel note~

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Located at Oxford Circus, the TOPSHOP flagship store, a famous British high street brand, Xi Jie will give a detailed introduction to this store.

TOPSHOP can be called the leader in fashion high street brands. It was founded in London, UK in 1964, and quickly led this high street fashion from the UK to Europe and America and then to Asia. This TOPSHOP flagship store at the exit of Oxford Circus tube station in London attracts 200,000 consumers every week.

Walking out of the tube station, you can see TOPSHOP, the world's largest flagship store, standing in front of you, located at the intersection of Oxford Street and Regent Street. Typical European architecture paired with fashionable modern high street brands. Many shopping malls and专卖店 in the UK are set up in these historic European-style buildings, making people marvel at the solid construction of this old powerful country, and the reasonable use by modern people is just right.

During the summer sale, the store has put up a huge banner for final clearance. The first floor sells bags and various accessories, turning into a sea of discounted bags during the sale. Many bags originally priced over 30 pounds are now half price.

The British love punk, so they are fond of rivets and chains, slightly rugged decorative details. Rivets are now widely used in bags, shoes, clothing and other fields.

In addition, on the first floor of this flagship store, there is also an enticing dessert shop, nola's. Each cake is very beautiful. Small cupcakes cost 1.25 pounds, large ones cost 3 pounds, and they are quite sweet, favored by young girls. From the British love of sweets, it's not hard to understand why their obesity rate is so high.

There is also an ice cream shop called Frae, known for being 100% fat-free, promoting healthy and casual diet, which is also welcomed by British girls who want to lose weight. Being thin is the dream of girls worldwide.

Next to the accessories area on the first floor, there are also some other British high street fashion brands under the same group, such as Miss Selfridge, which is also having a crazy sale. The UK separates discounted clothes by size and discount level on different racks for easy shopping. Some other British brands can also be found here, such as MACB, paul's boutique, etc. These brands have a very British design and relatively low prices. About 40-60 pounds; a little dress can be bought for as little as 30 pounds in a pleasing style.

The checkout area on the first floor also has some candies placed around for customers to buy on a whim, feeling like the snack racks next to the escalators in Chinese supermarkets. Marketing tactics are everywhere. But it is worth mentioning that although tens of thousands of customers enter and exit this TOPSHOP every day, they rarely have to queue for a long time to pay. The reason is that there are multiple cash registers on each floor, and a queuing and number-calling system similar to that in domestic banks is adopted, greatly saving queuing time.

Women's clothing is on the lower ground floor. During the sale, it is also bustling with fashion girls hunting for bargains. The discounts are also tempting. You can buy bikinis, underwear, women's clothing, women's shoes, accessories, and any other item for between 5 and 20 pounds. And this is before tax refund. The UK charges local residents 20% consumption tax, which is not charged to foreign tourists. So when you spend over 30 pounds, you can ask the staff for a tax refund form at checkout, and then you can get a refund at the airport before leaving. After deducting the handling fee, the refund amount can be as high as 10%.

Although this floor has three large fitting areas, each with special entrances and exits to avoid congestion, queuing to try on clothes is inevitable during the sale.

There is also a huge sign in the store that says "last chance to buy", but don't be too attracted by this eye-catching slogan, because the clothes here are not discounted; they are all full price. It's just because they are out of stock or only one piece left, so they use this slogan to attract customers' attention. And because there is only one piece left, you must keep your eyes open when choosing, as it might be a defective item. Although the return and exchange policy here is very complete, as long as there is no obvious sign of wear, you can exchange or return defective products at any time, but the time and energy wasted should also be considered.

This flagship store also has a large cosmetics area, with a wall full of various blushes, lip glosses, etc. There are special chairs for customers to rest, and two staff members serve you, which is very thoughtful.

You can do one-stop shopping at TOPSHOP. If your budget is limited and you want to instantly create a full British-style outfit, this flagship store is definitely your first choice. Look at our Rayli Stars, all holding the "fruits" of their shopping sprees here.

TOPSHOP Oxford Circus Shopping Guide:

Address: West End, Greater London W1W 8LG, United Kingdom (Exit Oxford Circus tube station)

Lower Ground Floor 2: Shoes, other brand clothing

Lower Ground Floor 1: Women's clothing by series

Ground Floor: Luggage, accessories

First Floor, Second Floor: Men's clothing

London, as a world-renowned creative capital, fashion is an indispensable label of this city. Here, not only do you have the internationally famous orthodox British brand Burberry, the punk style of Vivienne Westwood, but also many well-known British brands like Paul Smith with a large number of loyal fans. But their relatively unaffordable prices can sometimes be prohibitive. However, British fashion is definitely not limited to these international brands. It also has平民价位 high street brands that teach you to dress with a personalized "British style". Among them, the most famous is probably TOPSHOP. Various proxy purchases for this brand are everywhere on the internet. Now is the peak season for the UK summer sale, let the editor take you to shop at London's major stores.

This TOPSHOP at Oxford Circus has already put up a prominent final sale poster. I have to praise the window display of this TOPSHOP; it immediately attracts people.

This should be the flagship store of TOPSHOP in all of London, located at the intersection of the busiest streets in London, Oxford Street and Regent Street.

If you want to shop here properly, it takes some effort. The huge store has five floors. The ground floor is mainly accessories and bags, the two lower floors are women's clothing and shoes respectively, and the upper two floors are men's clothing. Because it is the peak sale season, the store is crowded with fashion-conscious men and women selecting clothes. If you are good at bargain hunting, it is easy to buy your favorite clothes for just a few pounds to more than ten pounds.

But today we will focus on two other stores. They are not as "famous" as TOPSHOP, but they are very popular among local young people in the UK.

The first one to mention is this shoe store called OFFICE, a shoe chain that can be seen in every city in the UK. It also has a 50% OFF sign in the window.

Look, here you can buy shoes of different brands, like NIKE, VANS, FRED PERRY, these retro sports shoes can all be found here, as well as the recently popular TOMS with the highest comfort level, the British rubber boots HUNTER, all can be bought in one stop, and there are many styles, be careful not to be dazzled.

These are also the melissa that are extremely popular online. Vivienne Westwood's classic scented plastic shoes are made in collaboration with this brand. But melissa's prices are much more affordable; you can buy similar styles for half the price of VW.

UGG, loved by people all over the world, but buying UGG in the UK has no advantage; the price is not cheap, even similar to domestic prices. Such a bulky item with no price advantage, better buy it back home.

The flip-flops with the highest appearance rate in celebrity street snaps - havaianas, complete styles and sizes, how can you miss them in the hot summer?

Of course, the store has the most of OFFICE's own shoes, and the discounts on their own shoes are also relatively strong. Look, the promotion poster says 10 pounds for one pair, 15 pounds for two pairs, which is much cheaper than usual.

OFFICE's own shoes are also extremely elegant, and its prices are really affordable among UK shoe brands. The editor thinks it's much more cost-effective than some domestic shoe brands.

And the staff are very nice, not too enthusiastic nor too indifferent, ensuring a comfortable shopping environment.

The second store to introduce is also a British local brand called HOBBS, also in the frenzy of discounts. Hobbs is a London high-end custom brand, founded in 1981. The brand has the following labels: Hobbs London, NW3 by Hobbs, Hobbs Invitation, the Hobbs 30th anniversary collection and Hobbs Unlimited. Each series has a different style. Just look at our spoils; you really can't miss this brand when it's on sale.

The store's decoration is mainly simple, a bit like some independent clothing designer studios in China.

If you ask what the most indispensable accessory for British people is, probably 8 out of 10 people will say hats, but hats as an important accessory appear nowadays more on formal occasions. Usually on the streets, you don't see so many ladies and gentlemen in hats. The poster saying 30% off is really eye-catching among these hats.

The clothes feel very comfortable when tried on, and the effect is also good, but the lighting in the fitting room doesn't show its true luster.

The packaging of many British brands is very meticulous. No matter how much you buy, they will carefully fold it for you and put it in a sealed bag.

This time, we first introduced these two stores on sale in London. If there is another chance, we will introduce more to you.