{"id":486547,"date":"2025-10-09T20:32:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T20:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/486547\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T20:32:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T20:32:12","slug":"popular-stockport-shop-owned-by-fashion-influencer-set-to-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/486547\/","title":{"rendered":"Popular Stockport shop owned by fashion influencer set to close"},"content":{"rendered":"

“It\u2019s been such a tough decision but I know this is absolutely the correct call”Sophia Barrese, owner of Top of The Town Vintage in Stockport(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

One of the best-known independent shops on Stockport Underbanks is set to close.<\/p>\n

Top of the Town Vintage on Lower Hillgate, which is owned by retro-loving fashion influencer Sophia Rosemary Barrese will shut its doors in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Fashion influencer Sophia, who is married to Blossoms drummer Joe Donovan, announced the news on social media earlier today but reassured fans that the store will continue online.<\/p>\n

The fashionista opened the vintage clothing shop in 2021, realising a lifelong dream by taking on a former hairdresser’s salon which she converted into her 1960s and 70s vintage wonderland.<\/p>\n

Join the Manchester Evening News <\/strong>WhatsApp<\/strong> group <\/strong>HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Announcing the closure of the physical store in a lengthy social media post, she said it had been a ‘tough’ decision, but said it was ‘impossible’ to give it the time and energy it deserved.<\/p>\n

Sophia wrote on Instagram this afternoon: “To my dear customers, the time has come to share some bittersweet news with you all. I am making plans to move Top Of The Town entirely online and close the shop.<\/p>\n

Sophia at her new vintage shop Top of the Town in Stockport(Image: @Sophia_Rosemary)<\/p>\n

“I have enjoyed every moment spent in my boutique however, with a large percentage of my customers online\/worldwide, and as I find it an increasing struggle to give the shop the time it requires, I need to make the right decision for the business and put my attention solely into the stores online presence.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s been such a tough decision but I know this is absolutely the correct call.<\/p>\n

“For those who have followed my business in the early days, you\u2019ll remember themed collections, carefully curated, photographed and presented. I want to get back to this!<\/p>\n

“And I want to focus my energy on creating engaging online content. Whilst I have the shop (which I juggle with my other career), it is impossible to give this the time and energy it needs as all my focus is on the day to day tasks of running a brick & mortar shop.<\/p>\n

(Image: @Sophia_Rosemary)<\/p>\n

“The shop has quite literally been a dream come true for me. Meeting my customers face to face, forging friendships I will forever cherish and sourcing beautiful vintage pieces for incredible women. You have no idea the joy it brings me and it is undoubtedly something I will revisit the future.”All is not lost, the online collections will get better! I would also like to increase my online offering looking at lower price point vintage items on other platforms away from my website.<\/p>\n

“Plus I will still be running the \u201cby appointment\u201d sessions at my new Stockport<\/a> office space and I would like to look at creating more collections repurposing vintage fabrics and tablecloths.<\/p>\n

“This is the beginning of something exciting but please bear with me in the first few months as I find my feet.<\/p>\n

Blossoms star Joe Donovan and fashion influencer Sophia Rosemary Baresse married in the Peak District on June 8, 2025(Image: Leah Lombardi\/@leahweddings )<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve not yet decided on the stores finally day but will of course keep you posted, it will most likely be in the next month. Finally I would like to thank each and every one of you who visited me in my shop, you have no idea how much it means to me.<\/p>\n

“Please pop in and visit me in these last few weeks and keep your eyes peeled on here for news re the store closure\/online updates. Lots of love Sophia & Peppy xx.”<\/p>\n

The shop owner started her own fashion blog over a decade ago, and soon racked up thousands of fans on her own Instagram page Sophia Rosemary, making a full-time career out of sharing her vintage gems and rare retro finds.<\/p>\n

She opened the store four years ago with the aim of making vintage fashion ‘accessible to all’ with a range of curated pre-loved pieces from the 60s and 70s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“It\u2019s been such a tough decision but I know this is absolutely the correct call”Sophia Barrese, owner of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,151103,393,4884,2465,246,1288,2627,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-486547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-citylife-shopping","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-shopping","14":"tag-stockport","15":"tag-stockport-town-centre","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115346116067284607","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}