Free People to open two standalone stores in London in 2019

US lifestyle brand Free People is to open its first "true UK storefronts" in London in early 2019.

The first will open on Covent Garden's Floral Street in January, followed by a second store on Duke of York's Square on the King's Road in Chelsea in March. The Philadelphia-based brand is promising news of further openings later in the year.

“We are delighted to announce that we will be growing our UK portfolio in 2019. This is an exciting opportunity to provide a greater brand experience for our customer," said Sheila Harrington, President of Free People.

The brand has also announced that it will be relaunching its King's Road pop-up shop in early 2019 to focus purely on its FP Movement line, and beauty and wellness categories, which include performance-ready activewear, beyond-the-gym staples, and an assortment of supplements and elixirs.

Located at 41 King's Road, the new boutique will kick start a series of monthly wellness events that will be open to the public both in the space and outside. The brand first launched a pop-up on the King's Road in 2015.

Founded in the 1970s Free People eventually changed its name to Urban Outfitters after which Free People became the in-house brand for the multi-brand retailer. The brand eventually branched out into wholesale and has showrooms in London, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. It launched its UK website in 2012.

Today it is part of the URBN Group, which includes Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and restaurant business Vertri Family.