Benetton’s 89 Oxford Street Flagship Closed 18 October, Reportedly Its Last UK Store

Trade outlets Drapers and TheIndustry.fashion report that Benetton closed its flagship at 89 Oxford Street, London, on Sunday 18 October 2026. The store is understood to be the last Benetton shop in the United Kingdom. The closure is one part of a restructuring at Benetton Group, the company that owns United Colors of Benetton and Sisley. A closing-down sale reportedly offered discounts of up to 70 percent.

Benetton has not publicly confirmed the closure or its plans for the UK. As of 19 October 2026, the company has made no announcement that it is leaving the UK market entirely.

The Oxford Street Store and Its Closing Sale

The store covered 16,000 square feet across three storeys and opened on 15 March 2018, according to TheIndustry.fashion. It had been trading for about eight years. Its features included a knitwear area, touchscreen browsing tables and entrance arches clad in LED screens rising 12 metres.

According to TheIndustry.fashion, Benetton described the store at its opening as an outpost in the United Kingdom, a market where the brand then had 55 points of sale, including concessions. The store was designed by Benetton’s in-house retail design department. In 2019 the company named it the reference format for major commercial hubs, noting that the same concept had already debuted in Düsseldorf, Padua and Turin in 2018.

FashionUnited says The Sun reported the closure and that social media posts showed the 70 percent closing-down sale. Drapers reports a window sign that directs shoppers to the online store and refers to a return to London. The sign is not attributed to the company.

Store Details
The 89 Oxford Street store covered 16,000 square feet across three storeys and opened on 15 March 2018, according to TheIndustry.fashion.

UK Store Count Falls From Nearly 60 to One

Drapers and TheIndustry.fashion both say Benetton had nearly 60 UK stores about a decade ago. The 55 points of sale reported at the 2018 opening included concessions. Drapers describes the Oxford Street shop as the brand’s only remaining UK store.

TheIndustry.fashion reports UK sales of €3.8 million (£3.3 million) for the year to 31 December 2025. That is down about 22 percent from €4.9 million (£4.2 million) in 2024. Drapers gives the same figures, citing accounts for the year ended 31 December 2025.

A Group Restructuring Under Claudio Sforza

Claudio Sforza was appointed chief executive in June 2024. TheIndustry.fashion describes a programme that reduces the store network, ends relationships with underperforming wholesale and franchise partners, and cuts operating costs. The stated aim is a return to break-even in 2026. Drapers adds that the programme aims to close loss-making stores and cut the workforce.

Benetton Group, which is controlled by the Benetton family’s holding company Edizione, reported a 2025 net loss of about €33 million. FashionUnited says that is down more than 65 percent from just under €100 million in 2024, a year that followed roughly €230 million in 2023. Drapers puts the improvement at 67 percent. FashionUnited puts the group’s store network at about 2,700 stores in 80 countries.

Revenue figures differ between sources. TheIndustry.fashion and Drapers give €792 million for 2025, down from €917 million. FashionUnited says just under €800 million, down from about €915 million.

Other changes include Benetton E-Commerce, created in January 2026 to manage the group’s online business. The company aims to generate 20 to 25 percent of group revenue from digital channels in the coming years. FashionUnited also reports a corporate governance restructuring that became operational in January 2026, and a joint venture with Poste Italiane. The venture, Logistic 360, is 51 percent Poste Italiane and 49 percent Benetton Group, and focuses on the Castrette di Villorba hub in the province of Treviso.

Benetton has not publicly confirmed the closure or its plans for the UK.

What Is Confirmed and What Is Not

The last trading day was Sunday 18 October 2026, according to TheIndustry.fashion and Drapers. FashionUnited gives no exact date for the closure.

Not confirmed: Benetton’s own account of the closure, the number of staff affected, and whether this is its last UK site. TheIndustry.fashion says the store is understood to be the last one. Drapers says it contacted Benetton about its UK plans, and the company had not yet confirmed them.

As of 19 October 2026, no announcement has been made about a full UK withdrawal, and no details about employees at the store have been given.