Have you been to Bhs Oxford Street? It's the best in town. I guarantee you will buy some product!” After a seven-week summer break spent entertaining Kate Moss and Sylvester Stallone on his yacht, Sir Philip Green is in full flow.

The billionaire's flagship Bhs store in London has been refurbished with the help of his wife, Tina - “to be fair, she relaid it” - his other brands are in final preparations for the run-up to Christmas and he cannot wait for what will be one of the defining moments of his career: introducing Topshop to the United States.

A trip to New York Fashion Week today marks the countdown to the doors opening at a 40,000 sq ft store on Broadway, near Bloomingdale's, in November.

Sir Philip shrugs off concerns that the move comes during one of the worst economic downturns in two decades. He has an “army of seasoned campaigners” working on the project and views it as the start of an expansion drive during which up to 15 Topshops could open in American cities over the next five years.

“We are now in circa 30 countries with Topshop. We're doing a bit in Canada, we are going to do a bit in Hong Kong in the autumn, but America, if you like, is to prove it's a truly international global brand.

“It's not a gamble. I like to think I'm an educated risk-taker. If I'd have gone to Fifth Avenue, paid $20 million in rent, I'd say it's a gamble. I've gone to a sensible location, where I think the brand fits, the rent's not going to kill me and I know what I think my numbers are going to be.

“If I'd spent $25 million a year on a flagship store, you could maybe call the psychiatrist and say you should have a look. But each time I go I'm feeling less nervous and more confident.”

It promises to be razzmatazz all the way. Sir Philip and Ms Moss, the supermodel he hired two years ago to design a range of fashion essentials, have featured together in a photoshoot for The Wall Street Journal. A US version of Topshop.com will be launched tomorrow alongside Moss's new collection.

It is a pleasant distraction from what is going on in the UK. Sir Philip's younger fashion brands - Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge - are performing well, and, over the past 16 weeks, homewares sales in Bhs are up on last year.

However, the rest of the estate, including Evans, Burton, Wallis and Dorothy Perkins, is suffering along with the rest of the high street.

Sir Philip is also heading towards a potentially bruising confrontation with landlords as the head of a group of retailers that is pushing to pay rents on a monthly basis, rather than every quarter, to help cashflow. The retailers also want landlords to review service charges.

The moves have sparked a furious backlash from Francis Salway, president of the British Property Federation, who asserts that the “retail cartel” risks falling foul of competition laws.

The first summit between the two sides is days away and, although he is eager to play down talk of open hostilities, Sir Philip is adamant that landlords will have to make concessions.

It is clear that retailers need a lift. More than a dozen store chains have collapsed into administration this year and other casualties are expected as Britain teeters on the brink of recession.

Last October Sir Philip was among the first to predict the severity of the consumer downturn and he fears the worst for next year as inflationary pressure builds in the clothing sector for the first time in years.

He says: “We have had a ten-year golden run of basically credit at every level getting easier, pretty benign inflation, unemployment pretty static, people feeling better at every level. In the last six months, the wind - a hurricane - has been in our face on a daily basis.

“For the first time, on top of everything else, we are now seeing fairly reasonable, fairly significant cost price inflation and that could change the landscape totally.

There's been a very sudden and serious devaluation of the pound and there's now a real risk of a double dip - of us facing even tougher conditions - next year.”

He believes that the fallout from the credit crunch will force consolidation, and he is well placed to take advantage. His success after buying Bhs in 2000 and the Arcadia Group in 2003 has boosted his personal wealth to an estimated £4.3 billion.

Marks & Spencer is regarded as an obvious target, given its present turmoil and because Sir Philip came so close to buying it for £9 billion four years ago.

M&S is worth £3.8 billion today; however, if he is interested, he is keeping it to himself. He simply hints that any future activity, whether it involves M&S or any other company, is likely to come when share prices and valuations decline a bit more. “It's still too early,” he says. “I don't want to be remembered for a deal I shouldn't have done.”

Regarding Christmas, the entrepreneur believes that the winners will be those with the most aspirational and inspirational products. “People want something great - they're only going to spend money on something they really want, not just go shopping for the hell of it.

“The next 15 to 16 weeks? Christmas is going to come, but it's going to be late. It's going to be a rollercoaster ride, just like it always is.”

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Moving the needle

On Christmas

‘It's going to be a rollercoaster ride. We're going to have to be sharper, cleverer, quicker. We've got to sharpen our game in every respect'

On consumers

‘They're only going to spend money on something they really want, not just go shopping for the hell of it'

On Bhs

‘I've had offers in the past for Bhs but never got comfortable with what would happen to the people, to the business. That's why I've put them in the bin'

On potential acquisitions

‘If we are going to do something, it's got to be a quantum move. We don't want to be playing around the edges. It's got to be something that moves the needle'

On entering the US market

‘It's the start of building a $300 to $500 million business over the next three to five years'

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