DEPARTMENT STORES

See Also: ARCADES; CLASS; DEPARTMENT STORES, FORMER; EXHIBITIONS; LIGHTING; RAILWAYS; SHOPPING

For the most part, department stores grew out of extant drapery shops. During the second half of the 19^thC a number of factors combined to assist their development. Foremost among these were the opening of the Bon March store in Paris and the example of the Great Exhibition of 1851, which had shown how a vast array of goods could be displayed within a single building. In addition, advances in glass and gas technology meant that wares could be presented in a more attractive manner than had previously been the case and that shops could be lit more brightly.

In the late 19^thC Regent Street's clientele shifted from being predominantly the aristocratic residents of the West End to being the middle classes of the new suburbs and the Home Counties beyond them. These new customers would travel into London for the day by train. The resulting lower profit margins forced the retailers to expand their product ranges in order to maintain their profitability. Larger businesses required bigger premises.

The Oxford Street department stores, notably Selfridges, are sited in the section of the street that lies to the west of Oxford Circus.

The artist Lubaina Himid has observed that, while both department stores and public museums developed at the same time, the public now has a paradoxical relationship with them. In department stores items belong to the shop but can be touched, whereas in museums objects belong to everyone but mostly cannot be touched.

Location: Oxford Street, W1C 1JG (orange, purple)

Regent Street, W1B 5TJ (red, yellow)

Website: www.oxfordstreet.co.uk www.regentstreetonline.com

Fortnum & Mason

Hugh Mason had a shop in St James's Market. His lodger was William Fortnum, who was a servant in the royal household. The perks of the latter s position included the right to dispose of any candles that had not been finished; these Mason sold in his store. In 1707 the pair set up a stall in Piccadilly on the site of the present-day shop. (Members of the Fortnum family continued to serve in the royal household.)

Fortnum & Mason's reputation was aided by the Great Exhibition of 1851. The store's food displays were one of the sights that many visitors included in their itinerary of London.

Fortnum & Mason's hampers became standard fare for Britain's ruling classes during the 19^thC, whether it was for fighting wars in distant lands or for having a day at the races.

In 1896 Henry J. Heinz's chose the store to be the first British customer for his canned foods.

Fortnum & Mason's supplied provisions for the Tutenkhamun expedition of 1923.

It is reputed that the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, while shopping in Fortnum & Mason's, was approached by a woman who clearly knew him. However, he found himself unable to recall who she was. In the hope of finding some context he asked What is your brother doing now? He's still king, she replied.

Fortnum & Mason's fragrances are on the second floor (the north-western corner). Long ago, the department used to be located on the first floor. It has never been on the ground floor. The staircase on the building's west side creaks reassuringly without seeming insecure.

Location: 181 Piccadilly, W1A 1ER (orange, blue)

See Also: LIGHTING Candles

Website: www.fortnumandmason.com

Harrods

In 1849 Henry Charles Harrod took over a small grocer's shop in the village of Knightsbridge. Twelve years later his son Charles Digby Harrod purchased the business from him. The store benefited from the westward growth of London from Belgravia. By the 1880s, Harrods was employing 100 shop assistants. In 1883 its building was destroyed by fire. Yet the company was able to fulfil its Christmas orders. This enhanced the business's reputation. The emporium was rebuilt with remarkable speed.

In 1889 Harrod fils sold the enterprise to a limited liability company. Two years later Richard Burbridge was appointed as the store's general manager. He took the business upmarket. In 1898 Harrods installed the first escalator in London; at its top an attendant dispensed brandy to those customers who had been overcome by the experience of the ride.

There are three full floors underneath the Harrods store.

The travel writer Eric Newby, the author of A Short Walk In The Hindu Kush (1958), attributed his desire to travel to his mother having taken him along with her on her visits to Harrods. To him the wonders that were to be found overseas were hinted at both by the contents of the Food Hall and by the displays of silk.

For several years Tiny Rowland, the head of the Lonrho conglomerate, had a public running conflict with the al Fayed brothers, over the Egyptians 1985 purchase of Harrods and the House of Fraser department stores business. The dispute was officially ended in 1993 when the al Fayeds and Mr. Rowland joined together in lowering a pair of sharks that the Egyptians had had hung in the Food Hall - the larger shark had been symbolically eating the tail of the smaller one. In 2010 Mr al Fayed sold the business to a Middle Eastern investment concern.

After dark the store's external structure is lit by thousands of lightbulbs. It is a delightful sight, especially when come across unexpectedly.

Harrods post-Barnes depositary is behind the Gillette building in Brentford

Location: 87-135 Brompton Road, SW1X 7XL (orange, yellow)

See Also: THE KANGAROO GANG

Website: www.harrods.com

Harvey Nichols

Benjamin Harvey (d.1850) opened a linen shop in Knightsbridge. This enterprise grew into being the Harvey Nichols department store. The business has been on its present site since 1880.

In 1991 Harvey Nichols was bought by Dickson Concepts, a company that was owned by Dickson Poon, a Hong Kong-based businessman. Five years later Harvey Nichols opened a second department store in the Yorkshire city of Leeds. Other outlets followed in Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin, Edinburgh, and Manchester.

Location: 109-125 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7RJ (red, brown)

Website: www.harveynichols.com

The House of Fraser

The House of Fraser was built up as a department store business by Sir Hugh Fraser 1^st Bt. (d.1966), a Glaswegian. His son, the 2^nd baronet, was an able retailer. However, in the 1970s the business was hit hard both by the rise of innovative specialist rivals, such as Mothercare and Laura Ashley, and by the impact on consumers of the oil price rises. Sir Hugh's interest switched to compulsive gambling. The business passed out of the control of the Fraser family.

Location: 318 Oxford Street, W1C 1HF (orange, brown)

Website: www.houseoffraser.co.uk

Army & Navy Stores

The Army & Navy Stores business was established in 1871 by a dozen subalterns as a co-operative to buy better provisions for military personnel and their families. It enabled them to buy goods at prices that were lower than those that were being charged in the West End s department stores. In 1872 the firm opened its first emporium in Victoria. In 1918 - to offset its falling membership¹ - the co-operative opened its outlets to the general public. In 1976 House of Fraser bought the business.

In 2005 the Army & Navy assumed its parent's name. A&N can still be seen above the black-edged Howick Place street entrances to the southern portion of the store.

Location: 101 Victoria Street, SW1E 6QX (purple, blue)

¹. Something that was to be called the First World War finished the same year.

Peter Jones

In 1868 Peter Jones opened a draper's shop in Hackney. Nine years later he acquired premises at Nos. 4-6 Kings Road, Chelsea. In 1906 the store was bought for 20,000 cash by John Lewis, a former employee who had become a competitor. Without Mr Jones's presence the Sloane Square store began to decline. To reverse this state of affairs, Mr Lewis made over the Chelsea business to his own eldest son John Spedan Lewis. However, Lewis p re insisted that his offspring should first work a full day at the John Lewis store on Oxford Street store before attending to the affairs of its Sloane Square sister.

Lewis fils suffered a bad riding accident in 1909. It took him two years to recuperate. During that time, he considered the future of the business that he was going to inherit. He developed his own ideas about retailing and then used his control of Peter Jones to implement them. As a result, he and his father fell out with one another. The son went to work in Sloane Square full-time.

When John Lewis made a private visit to the Chelsea store, he was favourably struck by what he saw there. The two men now each had an appreciation of the achievements of the other and were soon reconciled. Eventually, John Spedan Lewis was given control of all of the Lewis family's retailing operations.

Location: Sloane Square, SW1W 8EL (orange, red)

Website: www.johnlewis.com/out-shops/peter-jones

John Lewis

John Lewis (d.1928) worked as a buyer in Peter Robinson's store in Chelsea's Sloane Square before setting up on his own as a retailer. In 1864 he opened his first shop on the corner of Oxford Street and Holles Street. The site is now covered by part of the company's flagship store. Using retained profits, he built the business up into one of the avenue's principal department stores.

In 1897 Lewis acquired Cavendish Buildings in Cavendish Square with the intention of enlarging his premises northwards so that the shop floor would run through from Oxford Street to Cavendish Square. Other property owners opposed his plan because they felt it would commercialise the square's character. The matter went to law and, when Lewis defied a court injunction on the matter, it led to his spending a brief spell incarcerated in Brixton Prison. Ultimately, the retailer carried the matter on appeal and extended his store through to the square.

The thinking of John Spedan Lewis, Lewis s son, extended to business ownership. In 1929 he transferred his shares to a trust for the happiness of all its members ; the John Lewis Partnership was set up to take control of those assets. When the trust was established it was set to expire 21 years after the death of the final descendant of King Edward VII who had been alive at the time of its creation. Following the 2011 death of the 7^th Earl of Harewood (1923-2011) the only one left was Queen Elizabeth II.

In 1962 the John Lewis group hired the designers Lucienne and Robin Day (1915-2010) as consultants. The couple worked on both John Lewis department stores and Waitrose supermarkets.

Location: 300 Oxford Street, W1A 1EX (orange, red)

See Also: CHARLES DICKENS Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce

Website: www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk www.johnlewis.com

Liberty & Company

Arthur Lasenby Liberty started his retail career as a sales assistant in Messrs. Farmer & Rogers, a Regent Street emporium. In 1862 he visited the International Exhibition in South Kensington and was struck by the potential that products from East Asia, and particularly those made in Japan, might have as retail items. He persuaded his employers to stock some and was proven to have been right. However, he was denied a partnership in the firm. Therefore, he decided to set up in business for himself. In 1875 Liberty opened his store and was soon taken up by the fashionable world. He made stylistic innovations such as encouraging the use of pastel colours. The retailer became an important figure in the era's decorative arts movements. His tastes influenced the Pre-Raphaelite painters and the Aesthetic Movement. In the original production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Patience (1881) the costumes were made from Liberty fabrics.

The distinct character of Liberty's premises derive from the combination of the firm's flair with the conservatism of its landlord the Crown Estate. The timber beams in the building's fa ade were cannibalised from the naval vessels H.M.S. Hindustan and H.M.S. Impregnable.

Location: Great Marlborough Street, W1B 5AH (blue, orange)

See Also: EXHIBITIONS The Imperial Institute; THE NAVY The Admiralty House, Furniture, Resolutely Present; ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL The Crypt

Website: www.libertylondon.com

Selfridges

Harry Gordon Selfridge was an American¹ who had made his reputation as the general manager of Marshall Field's retail department in Chicago. Selfridge chose to open a store in London after having holidayed in the city and noticed how limited the shopping was compared to Chicago and New York. He believed that the British knew how to make goods but not how to sell them. He arrived in the city in 1906 with a plan to build the finest store that the city had ever seen. Sam Waring, of the Waring & Gillow furniture store, backed Selfridge financially on the condition that the retailer would not sell any furniture. Waring withdrew. The food and tea retailer John Musker stepped in to rescue Selfridge.

The Chicago-based architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham (1846-1912) was involved in the design of Selfridges.² In 1909 the Selfridges department store opened on Oxford Street. It revolutionised Britain's shopping, with its credit scheme, a bargain basement, annual sales, innovative window displays, and its allowing the public to inspect goods at their own leisure. Placing the perfumery counters at the front of the store covered the smell of manure from the street. When it opened, Selfridges was exceptional in not requiring some of its works to live-in. The 1920s were the establishment's golden era. In 1928 the world's first sale of a television occurred in the store.

While Selfridge's wife Rose had been alive his personal conduct had been orderly and conventional. Cecil Beaton's My Fair Lady (1964) millinery was inspired by a French showgirl Gaby de Lisse who was a pre-First World War mistress of Gordon Selfridge. However, following Rose's death in 1918, he had taken to cultivating an exotic private life and spending money freely. He had moved into Lansdowne House, a splendid townhouse in Fitzmaurice Place. In the economic downturn of the 1930s the retailer found himself unable to operate so effectively. In 1939 the company's board forced him to resign. His final years were spent living in Putney in straitened circumstances.

Location: 400 Oxford Street, W1A 1AB (purple, yellow)

Website: www.selfridges.com

¹. Selfridge was to become a British citizen.

². Daniel Burnham had achieved a major success with his creation of the Chicago City Plan (1909). He had used the lakefront as the focus of the plan. He ensured that there was fourteen miles of public access to the water.

David Backhouse 2024