Selfridges facts for kids
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Selfridges flagship store in London
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Trade name
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Selfridges |
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| Private limited company | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Genre | Department store |
| Founded | 1908 |
| Founder | Harry Gordon Selfridge |
| Headquarters | 400 Oxford Street London, United Kingdom |
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Number of locations
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Four: Oxford Street, London Trafford Centre, Manchester Exchange Sq., Manchester Bullring, Birmingham |
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Key people
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Andrew Keith (Managing Director) |
| Owners | Selfridges Group, owned by: Central Group (50%) Signa Holding (50%) |
| Parent | Selfridges & Co. Limited |
Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a famous chain of fancy department stores in the United Kingdom. It was started by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908.
The main Selfridges store is on Oxford Street in London. It was designed by Daniel Burnham and opened on March 15, 1909. This store is the second largest shop in the UK, after Harrods. Other Selfridges stores are in Manchester at the Trafford Centre (opened 1998) and Exchange Square (opened 2002). There is also a store in Birmingham at the Bullring (opened 2003).
Over the years, Selfridges has changed owners several times. In 2003, a Canadian businessman named Galen Weston bought the chain. Later, in December 2021, the Weston family sold most of the Selfridges Group for about £4 billion. It was bought by a joint company formed by Central Group from Thailand and Signa Holding from Austria. This sale was completed in August 2022.
Contents
The Story of Selfridges
Harry Gordon Selfridge was very good at new ways of marketing. He showed this at his Oxford Street store. Selfridge, who was from America, wanted to change how people thought about shopping. He made shopping a fun adventure and a way to relax, not just a chore.
He turned the department store into a special place for social and cultural events. It was a comfortable public space, especially for women, where they could enjoy themselves. Selfridge made sure the store felt welcoming. He put items out so customers could easily look at them. He also placed the perfume counter right at the front, which was a very smart move.
Harry Selfridge is often said to have created the famous saying, "the customer is always right."
In 1909, after the first flight across the English Channel, Louis Blériot's monoplane was shown at Selfridges. About 150,000 people came to see it over four days. Later, from April 1 to 27, 1925, John Logie Baird showed the first moving silhouette images by television from the first floor of Selfridges.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the store's roof was a lively place. It had gardens, cafes, a mini golf course, and even a gun club just for girls. The roof offered amazing views of London and was a popular spot for walks after shopping. It was also often used for fashion shows.
During the Second World War, the store's basement was used as an air-raid shelter. Employees would take turns watching for bombs during air raids.
In 1932, a special earthquake measuring device called a seismograph was set up on the third floor of the Oxford Street store. It was attached to a main support beam and was not affected by traffic or shoppers. It successfully recorded the Belgian earthquake on June 11, 1938. This earthquake was even felt in London. In 1947, the device was given to the Science Museum.
From 1943, a huge secret communication machine called SIGSALY was kept in the basement. This machine made sure that phone calls between American and British leaders, like Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, were safe from being listened to.
In 1926, Selfridges created a company for stores outside London. Over time, this company grew to include sixteen stores. However, these stores were sold to the John Lewis Partnership in 1940. In 1951, the Liverpool-based Lewis's chain bought the original Oxford Street store.
In 1965, the business was bought by the Sears Group. Under Sears, new Selfridges stores opened in Manchester and Birmingham. In March 1998, Selfridges launched new branding when the Manchester Trafford Centre store opened.
In September 1998, Selfridges opened its first store outside London. This was a large store at the new Trafford Centre in Greater Manchester. Because it was so successful, Selfridges decided to open another store in Manchester. This new store, about 126,000 square feet, opened in 2002 in Exchange Square, in the city centre. This happened as Manchester city centre was recovering after the 1996 Manchester bombing.
A 150,000 square foot store then opened in 2003 at Birmingham's Bull Ring.
There were plans to open more stores in places like Leeds, Liverpool, Dublin, and Glasgow. In 2002, the company bought land in Glasgow for a new large store. However, these plans were stopped the next year when the company started talks to sell the business. The Glasgow land was sold in 2013, and no new stores have been announced since.
In 2003, Galen Weston bought the chain. He also owned other stores like Brown Thomas in Ireland and Holt Renfrew in Canada. These stores became part of the Selfridges Group. Weston decided to improve the Oxford Street store instead of building many new ones.
In October 2009, Selfridges brought back rooftop fun with a pop-up restaurant called "The Restaurant on the Roof." In July 2011, a company called Truvia created a green boating lake on the roof. It had a waterfall and a cocktail bar. In 2012, the "Big Rooftop Tea and Golf Party" offered afternoon tea high above Oxford Street. It also had a nine-hole golf course with famous London landmarks made of cake as obstacles.
In August 2020, Selfridges started renting out luxury clothes. They partnered with HURR, an online fashion rental platform. Customers could rent 100 items from over 40 fashion brands for up to 20 days.
In July 2021, the Weston family decided to sell the Selfridges business. It was valued at about £4 billion. This sale included all stores, even the main Oxford Street one. In December 2021, it was announced that most of the Selfridges Group was sold to a joint company. This company was formed by Thai group Central Group and Austrian company Signa Holding.
Amazing Architecture
Selfridges stores are known for their cool and new building designs. They are often tourist spots themselves. The original London store was designed by Daniel Burnham. He also designed the main Marshall Field's store in his hometown of Chicago. Burnham was a top department store designer at that time.
The London store was built in stages. The first part was one of the first buildings in London to use a steel frame. This new way of building, from Chicago, helped other buildings in the UK start using steel frames too.
Other people who helped design the store were American architect Francis Swales and British architects R. Frank Atkinson and Thomas Smith Tait. The colorful sculpture above the Oxford Street entrance was made by British sculptor Gilbert Bayes.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper called Selfridges in London the world's best department store in 2010.
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The Birmingham store was designed by architects Future Systems. It is covered in 15,000 shiny aluminium discs on a bright blue background. Since it opened in 2003, the Birmingham store has been named every year as one of the top 100 stores to visit in the world.
Famous Windows
Selfridges' window displays are very famous and a big part of the brand. Harry Selfridge thought shopping was like going to the theatre. He wanted customers to feel this way too. Before opening, he would cover his display windows with silk curtains. Then, he would dramatically pull them back to show the displays. Just like today, the window designs were the first act of the Selfridges shopping experience. They helped grab people's attention and turn them into real shoppers.
Once, when the building was being fixed, the scaffolding was covered with a huge photo of stars like Sir Elton John. For Christmas 2014, a Paddington Bear statue designed by Kate Moss was in the window. It was called "Goldie Bear" and was sold to raise money for charity.
Since 2002, a photographer named Andrew Meredith has taken pictures of the windows. These photos have been in many magazines and newspapers around the world.
Grand Opening and Marketing
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Harry Selfridge had a lasting impact on shopping and department stores. This was clear from Selfridges' opening day. The store opened with great excitement on March 15, 1909. This set the stage for the success of the whole shopping experience Selfridge wanted to create. Even before the window displays were shown, clever marketing helped make the opening a huge success.
Harry Selfridge worked closely with the media to make sure his store was well-known. During the opening week, many news articles in newspapers and magazines promoted the store for free. Later, Selfridge wrote daily columns in newspapers under the name Callisthenes. One of the best marketing tools was the cartoons about the grand opening. Selfridge hired 38 top London artists to draw hundreds of ads for 18 newspapers.
The marketing continued on opening day itself. Selfridges was called "London's Greatest Store" and quickly became a cultural and social hit. Every detail of the opening was planned to draw people in. This included soft lighting, no price tags, and live music. Shoppers felt special and like "guests" in another world. They could buy unique items not found in other stores.
Selfridges in Pop Culture
ITV and Masterpiece made a TV show called Mr Selfridge. It first aired in January 2013. The show continued for four seasons, with the last one starting in January 2016.
Selfridges was also shown in the 2017 movie Wonder Woman. In the movie, Steve Trevor takes Diana Prince to Selfridges. He helps her get more modern clothes so she can fit in.
The brand has also worked with artists like Jaden Smith over the years.
