HARRODS - LONDON - The World's Famous Corner Shop

Harrods, the world's most famous corner shop started its life with Charles Henry Harrod at 4 Cable Street in the grim East End. It definitely wasn't a glorious start for the world's most famous shop.

Charles Henry Harrod first opened a whole sale grocery in Cable Street where later on Jack the Ripper had his stomping ground.  When the East India Company lost its monopoly on tea pricing in the 1830s, Harrod took the chance. Later on, he moved to the City of London in 1849. In the same year he bought the lease for a one room shop at 8 Middle Queen's Buildings for groceries. These places were later redesigned and call 105 Brompton Road. At that time it was a semi-rural Knightsbridge. He moved there to escape the filth of the city and to start retailing.

He was very fortunate it was at the time of the Great Exhibition in nearby Hyde Park in 1851. The business was booming because of the many visitors coming in. However, the son, Charles Digby Harrod, was really the one to build up the business and turned it into a smarter retailing shop

In 1861 he bought the shop from his father. At that time, wealthier people moved into the area. All other grocers offered credit.  Harrod, Jnr advertised all his good for cash, free delivery, and a lower margin of profit.

He was running a risk but it worked. The adverts brought the customers and they appreciated the quality of the goods. He paid his debts to his father within three years. He extended the premises by building a roof over the garden of 105 and bought 101 and 103 including a large piece of land behind these premises. By 1883 he extended his store into six departments which were food and household items. He had 200 sales staff

HARRODS  1909


HARRODS 2009

On 6th December 1883 Harrod's shop caught fire.  Everything was destroyed and the worst of it all the Christmas orders which had been already parcelled. Instead of sitting back and bemoaning his great disaster and it was. Harrod turned it into an advantage. He made sure that every Christmas order was delivered and with that he had great press coverage. He had a bumper Christmas trade coming from all that publicity.

It also gave him the chance to build a much grander building. Harrods began to give credit to its most famous customers like Oscar Wilde, the actresses Lillie Langtry and Ellen Terry.

The Harrod’s family sold it and in 1889 the store became a public company. New departments and a bank as well as an estate agent were added.  In 1894 the first "winter clearance" was held.  In 1898 the world's first escalator was built there and on top to revive queasy shoppers a tot of brandy was handed out

HIn 1901 a massive renovation took place.  The frontage was given swags, cherubs and pilasters and on top a magnificent baroque dome.  This dome only contained a water tank. The interior was decorated with Royal Doulton tiles and rococo plasterwork done by nobody less than Parisian craftsmen.

Since Harrods takes pride in stocking everything 'from a pin to an elephant' Ronald Reagan rang up and asks, "Do you sell elephants?" The reply came back, "Would that be African or Indian, sir?"

Harrods was owned by the House of Fraser.  In 1985 it was sold to the Egyptian brother Al Fayed.  At the time of take-over Mohamed Al Fayed commissioned a £300million refurbishment plan which included £20million Egyptian escalators.  He also made an Egyptian cobra guard a £60,000 jewel-encrusted sandals and at the same time opera singers performed arias on the escalators.

Even so it is a great tourist attraction it still makes sure that it keeps the aura of luxury by maintaining strict dress code.  Jason Donovan, Kate Winslet and the highest paid footballers of the Ukraine are only a few of the number who have failed to get past the doormen.

Today, the world's most famous corner shop has more than a million square feet of selling space.  It has 330 departments and attracts many famous people. The singer Katherine Jenkins opened the world most famous sales

Harrods had not been exempt from tragedy.  

In 1993 a car-bomb attack by the Provisional IRA killed six people. One of them was a young Daily Express journalist Philip Geddes.

In 1997 Harrods went into history when Princess Diana and Mr Al Fayed eldest son Dodi were killed in a so-called car accident in Paris.

Mr Al Fayed sold the store to the ruling family of the Gulf emirate of Qatar for a £1.5billion. Rich tourists and a weak pound had a sales hit of a record of £752million in the year to January 2009.

As Charles Digby Harrod found out and so will the new store owners that it won't take long to recover the cost