Karen Millen Is Back on the High Street After Seven Years
Karen Millen has returned to physical retail for the first time since 2019, opening three UK concessions this month.
The first opened at Fosse Park in Leicester on Friday 14 August, followed by two more on Monday 17 August at Union Square in Aberdeen and Liverpool ONE. All three sit inside stores operated by TFG — The Foschini Group — whose UK fashion portfolio also includes Hobbs and Whistles.
What’s in the concessions
The spaces stock a curated selection rather than the full range: occasionwear alongside the brand’s bestselling lines. That focus makes sense. Occasionwear is the category where trying something on still genuinely matters, and where online return rates are highest across the whole of UK fashion retail.
Karen Millen has said the move responds to customer demand for an in-person experience alongside its online business. Further concessions are planned, though the brand hasn’t disclosed how many, where, or on what timetable.
Why this is notable
Karen Millen closed all its shops in 2019 and has traded online only since. Returning to physical retail through concessions rather than standalone stores is the cautious version of a comeback — lower fixed costs, no long leases, and an existing operator handling the space.
It’s also a pattern. Several British brands that vanished from the high street have reappeared this way rather than through their own shopfronts, and it’s become the standard route back for a label with brand recognition but no appetite for the property risk that killed it the first time.
The wider context is less cheerful. Phase Eight — also part of TFG — is closing underperforming stores as part of a restructuring. LK Bennett entered administration in January, and Claire’s closed its UK and Ireland standalone shops in the spring. The British Heart Foundation has proposed around 150 shop closures over the next two years, citing rising operating costs. UK footfall in the four weeks to 1 August was down 2.1% year on year — an improvement on the previous month’s 3.4% decline, but a decline nonetheless.
Against that, three concessions is a modest thing. It’s still one of the few pieces of good news the British high street has had this summer.
The TFG connection
The Foschini Group’s ownership of Hobbs, Whistles and now the Karen Millen partnership puts a meaningful chunk of British mid-market womenswear under one roof. For shoppers, the practical effect is that these brands increasingly share floor space — which, for anyone assembling an outfit for an autumn wedding, is not a bad thing.
Karen Millen concessions are open at Fosse Park Leicester, Union Square Aberdeen and Liverpool ONE.