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Selfridges

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This article is about the department store. For other uses, see Selfridge (disambiguation).

Selfridges Retail Limited
Selfridges
Company typePrivate limited company
IndustryRetail
GenreDepartment store
Founded1908; 116 years ago (1908)[1]
FounderHarry Gordon Selfridge
Headquarters400 Oxford Street
London, United Kingdom
Number of locations
Four:
Oxford Street, London
Trafford Centre, Manchester
Exchange Sq., Manchester
Bullring, Birmingham
Key people
Andrew Keith[2] (Managing Director)
OwnersCentral Group (60%)
Public Investment Fund (40%)
ParentSelfridges Group
Websitewww.selfridges.com

Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of upmarket department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores.[1] It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908.[1]

The historic Daniel Burnham-designed Selfridges flagship store at 400 Oxford Street in London is the second-largest shop in the UK (after Harrods) and opened on 15 March 1909.[3] Other Selfridges stores opened at the Trafford Centre (1998), in Manchester at the Exchange Square (2002), and in Birmingham at the Bullring (2003).

During the 1940s, smaller provincial Selfridges stores were sold to the John Lewis Partnership, and in 1951, the original Oxford Street store was acquired by the Liverpool-based Lewis's chain of department stores.[4] Lewis's and Selfridges were then taken over in 1965 by the Sears Group, owned by Charles Clore.[5] Expanded under the Sears Group to include branches in Manchester and Birmingham,[6] the chain was acquired in 2003 by Canada's Galen Weston for £598 million.[7] In December 2021, the Weston family agreed to sell the majority of Selfridges Group for around £4 billion to a joint venture between Thai conglomerate Central Group and Austria's Signa Holding.[8][9] The acquisition was completed on 23 August 2022.[10]

History

[edit]
Harry Gordon Selfridge, c. 1880

The basis of Harry Gordon Selfridge's success was his relentlessly innovative marketing, which was elaborately expressed in his Oxford Street store. Originally from America himself, Selfridge attempted to dismantle the idea that consumerism was strictly an American phenomenon.[11] He tried to make shopping a fun adventure and a form of leisure instead of a chore,[12] transforming the department store into a social and cultural landmark that provided women with a public space in which they could be comfortable and legitimately indulge themselves.[11] Emphasizing the importance of creating a welcoming environment, he placed merchandise on display so customers could examine it, and moved the highly profitable perfume counter front-and-centre on the ground floor.[13]

Either Selfridge or Marshall Field is popularly held to have coined the phrase "the customer is always right".[14]

In 1909, after the first cross-Channel flight, Louis Blériot's monoplane was put on display at Selfridges, where it was seen by 150,000 people over a four day period.[15] John Logie Baird made the first public demonstration of moving silhouette images by television from the first floor of Selfridges from 1 to 27 April 1925.[16]

In the 1920s and 1930s, the roof of the store hosted terraced gardens, cafes, a mini golf course and an all-girl gun club. The roof, with its extensive views across London, was a common place for strolling after a shopping trip and was often used for fashion shows.[17]

During the Second World War, the store's basement was used as an air-raid shelter and during raids employees were usually on the lookout for incendiary bombs and took watch in turns.[18]

The Oxford Street store in London

A Milne-Shaw seismograph was set up on the Oxford Street store's third floor in 1932, attached to one of the building's main stanchions, where it remained unaffected by traffic or shoppers. It successfully recorded the Belgian earthquake of 11 June 1938, which was also felt in London. In 1947, it was given to the Science Museum.[19]

The huge SIGSALY scrambling apparatus, by which transatlantic conferences between American and British officials (most notably Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt) were secured against eavesdropping, was housed in the basement from 1943 on, with extension to the Cabinet War Rooms about a mile away.[20]

In 1926, Selfridges set up the Selfridge Provincial Stores company, which had expanded over the years to include sixteen provincial stores, but these were sold to the John Lewis Partnership in 1940. The Liverpool-based Lewis's chain of department stores acquired the remaining Oxford Street Shop in 1951, expanding the brand by adding Moultons of Ilford, purchased from rival chain R H O Hills and renaming the store Selfridges.[21] In 1965 the business was purchased by the Sears Group, owned by Charles Clore.[5] Under the Sears group, branches in Ilford and Oxford opened, with the latter remaining Selfridges until 1986, when Sears rebranded it as a Lewis's store. In 1990, Sears Group split Selfridges from Lewis's and placed Lewis's in administration a year later. In March 1998, Selfridges introduced new branding in tandem with the opening of the Manchester Trafford Centre store and Selfridges' demerger from Sears.[22]

Selfridges at the Trafford Centre, which opened in 1998

In September 1998, Selfridges expanded and opened its first department store outside London. A 200,000-square-foot (18,600 m2) anchor store at the newly opened Trafford Centre in Greater Manchester.[23] Following its success, Selfridges announced they would open an additional store in Greater Manchester. A 126,000-square-foot (11,700 m2) store in Exchange Square, Manchester city centre. The Exchange Square store opened in 2002 as Manchester city centre started to return to normal following the 1996 Manchester bombing.[24]

Selfridges at Exchange Square, Manchester

A 150,000-square-foot (14,000 m2) store soon followed in 2003 at Birmingham's Bull Ring.[25]

Plans for expansion and additional stores continued soon after. Desired locations included Leeds, Liverpool, Dublin and Glasgow. The company purchased a site in Glasgow in 2002 and announced a new 200,000 sq ft Scottish flagship store was due to open in 2007.[26] The following year all expansion plans were put on hold as the company began negotiations to sell the business. The Glasgow site was eventually sold off in 2013 and no plans to open any future stores has been announced - as of 2023.[27]

In 2003, the chain was acquired by Canada's Galen Weston for £598 million and some of his other investments, which included Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland, Holt Renfrew in Canada and de Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, became part of Selfridges Group. Weston, a retailing expert who is the owner of Loblaw Companies in Canada, chose to invest in the renovation of the Oxford Street store—rather than to create new stores in British cities other than Manchester and Birmingham.[28]

In October 2009, Selfridges revived its rooftop entertainment with the pop up "The Restaurant on the Roof" restaurant.[29] In July 2011, Truvia created an emerald green boating lake (with a waterfall, a boat-up cocktail bar and a forest of Stevia plants).[30] In 2012 the Big Rooftop Tea and Golf Party featured "the highest afternoon tea on Oxford Street" and a nine-hole golf course with "the seven wonders of London" realised in cake as obstacles.[31]

In August 2020, during a difficult time for UK retail, Selfridges offered luxury pieces for hire to millennial and socially conscious clients. The store partnered with HURR, an online fashion rental platform, offering hire of 100 items from over 40 fashion brands for up to 20 days at a time.[32]

The Weston family put the Selfridges business up for auction in July 2021, with an estimated value of £4 billion. The sale includes all stores including the flagship Oxford Street store and worldwide outlets.[33] In early December 2021, the family was reported to be finalising the chain's sale to Central Group.[34][35][36]

On 24 December 2021, it was announced that the majority of Selfridges Group had been sold to a joint venture between Thai conglomerate Central Group and the Austrian Signa Holding for around £4 billion.[9]

Architecture

[edit]
Selfridges Building, Birmingham

Selfridge stores are known for architectural innovation and excellence, and are tourist destinations in their own right.[37] The original London store was designed by Daniel Burnham, who also created the Marshall Field's main store in his home town of Chicago. Burnham was the leading American department store designer of the time and had works in Boston (Filenes's), New York (Gimbel's, Wanamaker's), and Philadelphia (Wanamaker's, his magnum opus).[38]

The London store was built in phases. The first phase consisted of only the nine-and-a-half bays closest to the Duke Street corner,[39] and is an example of one of the earliest uses of steel cage frame construction for this type of building in London. This circumstance, according to the report of a contemporary London correspondent from the Chicago Tribune, was largely responsible for making possible the eventual widespread use of Chicago’s steel frame cage construction system in the United Kingdom:

“Under the pressure of [Mr. Selfridge] and the interests allied with him, the councilors admitted the soundness of American building methods and framed a bill which will be pressed at once in parliament [sic] to permit these methods to be used here.”[40]

Also involved in the design of the store were American architect Francis Swales, who worked on decorative details, and British architects R. Frank Atkinson and Thomas Smith Tait.[41][42] The distinctive polychrome sculpture above the Oxford Street entrance is the work of British sculptor Gilbert Bayes.[43]

The Daily Telegraph named Selfridges in London the world's best department store in 2010.[44]

Detail of sculpture above the London store's entrance

The Birmingham store, designed by architects Future Systems, is covered in 15,000 spun aluminium discs on a background of Yves Klein Blue.[45] Since it opened in 2003, the Birmingham store has been named every year by industry magazine Retail Week as one of the 100 stores to visit in the world.[46]

Windows

[edit]
A Selfridges window display
Selfridges' Paddington Bear themed Christmas window display in 2014

Selfridges' windows have become synonymous also with the brand, and to a certain degree have become as famous as the company and Oxford Street location itself. Selfridges has a history of bold art initiatives when it comes to the window designs. Selfridge himself likened the act of shopping to the act of attending the theatre and encouraged his customers to make this connection as well by covering his show windows with silk curtains before dramatically unveiling the displays on opening day.[11] Just as they do today, the window designs served as the opening act of the entire play of the Selfridge experience and helped capture the public’s attention to transform customers into true shoppers. Later, when the building was undergoing restoration,[47] the scaffolding was shrouded with a giant photograph of stars such as Sir Elton John by Sam Taylor-Wood.[48] For Christmas 2014, the window displayed a Kate Moss-designed Paddington Bear statue—themed "Goldie Bear"—which was auctioned to raise funds for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).[49][50]

Since 2002, the windows have been photographed by London photographer Andrew Meredith and published in magazines such as Vogue, Dwell, Icon, Frame, Creative Review, Hungarian Stylus Magazine, Design Week, Harper's Bazaar, The New York Times, WGSN as well as many worldwide media outlets, including the world wide press, journals, blogs and published books.[51]

Opening day and marketing

[edit]
During opening week, a full-page ad in The Times touted the store's size, spaciousness, nine "electric lifts", 1200 sales assistants in 100 departments, "many telephone wires", "numberless bright arc lamps", and other amenities provided "free of charge to every visitor without the slightest obligation to purchase".[52]
Printed three months after opening, this advertisement assured readers of not only "London's Lowest Prices—Always", but that "the question of Quality comes emphatically first", and that all goods are sold "on Honour" (with moneyback guarantee).[53]

The long lasting influence that Harry Selfridge would have on shopping and department stores became immediately clear with Selfridges' opening day. The store’s opening to much fanfare on 15 March 1909 laid the foundation for the success of the entire lifestyle that Selfridge aimed to promote. Even before the unveiling of the window displays, innovative marketing techniques set up the momentous occasion and the store for great success.[54]

Harry Selfridge developed close relationships with the media to ensure that his store and its opening were properly publicized.[11] The opening week ad campaign relied mainly on unpaid promotions in the form of news articles in newspapers, magazines, and journals. As time progressed, Selfridge took the more traditional form of marketing by writing daily columns under the pen name Callisthenes.[11] Overall, however, one of the most effective marketing tools proved to be the opening week cartoons focusing on the grand event. Selfridge enlisted the help of thirty-eight of London’s top illustrators to draw hundreds of full page, half page, and quarter page advertisements for eighteen newspapers.[55]

The marketing continued on opening day itself. Touted as “London’s Greatest Store,” Selfridges immediately became a cultural and social phenomenon. From the store's soft lighting to the general absence of price tags to live music from string quartets, every detail of the opening was purposeful to draw people into the entire shopping experience and make each shopper feel unique.[55] At Selfridges, shoppers entered another world in which they became "guests," as the store referred to them, and could purchase unique items that differed from the material goods sold in other stores.[55]

Controversies

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In culture

[edit]

ITV and Masterpiece produced a series entitled Mr Selfridge, first airing on ITV beginning in January 2013 (in ten parts), and later on PBS starting on 30 March 2013 (in eight parts).[64] ITV began airing ten additional episodes in January 2014.[65] The fourth series began in 2016 with the first episode airing on 8 January 2016.[65]

Selfridges was also featured in the 2017 movie Wonder Woman as the shop where Steve Trevor takes Diana Prince to give her a more contemporary appearance to blend in.[66]

The brand has worked with artists like Jaden Smith and others throughout its history.[67]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Selfridges Retail Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  2. ^ "Selfridges names Andrew Keith as new managing director". Retail Gazette. 11 November 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Our Heritage". Selfridges. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  4. ^ "Lewis's". The Liverpool Wiki. Archived from the original on 7 July 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  5. ^ a b Davenport-Hines, Richard (2004). "Clore, Sir Charles (1904–1979)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30943. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)subscription required
  6. ^ "Land Securities – Retail – Birmingham, Bull Ring". PropertyMall.com. 18 February 2000. Archived from the original on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  7. ^ "Selfridges UK expansion capped". BBC News. 28 October 2003. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
  8. ^ White, Georgia (24 December 2021) Selfridges confirms sale to Central Group and Signa Holding, Retail Gazette. Retrieved: 29 December 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Selfridges sold for £4bn to Thai-Austrian alliance". BBC News. 24 December 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  10. ^ "Central Group acquires Selfridges". TTR Weekly. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  11. ^ a b c d e Rappaport, Erika (2000). Shopping for Pleasure: Women in the Making of London's West End. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 142–177. ISBN 978-0691044767.
  12. ^ "Selfridge: Making Shopping Fun | Picture Britain". Picture Britain. 6 April 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  13. ^ Woodhead, Lindy (2012). Shopping, Seduction & Mr Selfridge. Profile Book. ISBN 978-1847659644.
  14. ^ "The customer is always right". The Phrase Finder. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  15. ^ "In the archive: Great Heights". Selfridges Archive. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  16. ^ "Hamilton Stamp Club Mr Selfridge". Archived from the original on 15 November 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  17. ^ Staveley-Wadham, Rose (16 December 2021). "Selfridges Steps Out – The Opening of a Department Store As Told By Our Newspapers". blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  18. ^ "Selfridges: 7 things you (probably) didn't know about the department store". History Extra. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  19. ^ Aspinall, Willy; Musson, Roger (1 March 2014). "Selfridge's Seismograph" (PDF). Seismological Research Letters. p. 363. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  20. ^ Weadon, P. (January 2009). "Sigsaly Story". National Security Agency Central Security Service.
  21. ^ "Bids and deals". The Guardian pg. 13. 18 September 1962. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  22. ^ "Surge in sales at Selfridges". The Guardian. 31 March 1999. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  23. ^ "Selfridges & Co, the Trafford Centre - Manchester (1999)".
  24. ^ "Selfridges starts second phase of redevelopment". 26 April 2011.
  25. ^ "Bullring Estate's Selfridges puts its best foot forward".
  26. ^ "Selfridges sets up store in Glasgow Upmarket retail giant plumps for Merchant City". October 2002.
  27. ^ "Selfridges Toyo Ito Glasgow store taken off life support". Urban Realm. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  28. ^ "Selfridges UK expansion capped". BBC News. 28 October 2003. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
  29. ^ "Pierre Koffmann Restaurant on the Roof Selfridges, 400 Oxford Street". The Independent. 22 November 2009. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  30. ^ "Preview: Truvia Boating Lake @ Selfridges Rooftop". Londonist. 22 July 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  31. ^ "1920-2012: A Look Back at Selfridges' Legendary Roof Top". Selfridges. Archived from the original on 1 October 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  32. ^ "Selfridges Partners With Clothing Rental Company". BoF. 17 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  33. ^ "Selfridges up for auction with £4bn price tag". Proactiveinvestors UK. 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  34. ^ Armstrong, Ashley. "Selfridges sale to Thailand's Central Group agreed". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  35. ^ "Owners on cusp of selling Selfridges to Thai group for £4bn". the Guardian. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  36. ^ "Selfridges owners agree £4bn sale to Thailand's Central Group - Retail Gazette". www.retailgazette.co.uk. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  37. ^ "Another London must-see: Selfridges, the iconic luxury department store". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  38. ^ Hines, Thomas S. (31 October 1974). Burnham of Chicago. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago. ISBN 978-0195018363.
  39. ^ Historic England (28 September 2001). "Selfridges Store (1357436)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  40. ^ "H.G. SELFRIDGE WINS FIGHT WITH LONDON CITY COUNCIL – Last Obstacle Overcome by Chicagoan and Work on Oxford Street Is Being Pushed Rapidly". Chicago Daily Tribune. 9 February 1909. p. A2.
  41. ^ Morrison, Kathryn A. (2003). English Shops & Shopping: An Architectural History. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10219-4.
  42. ^ "Selfridges". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
  43. ^ "The Queen of Time: Selfridges". Bob Speel. Retrieved 27 October 2023.<
  44. ^ Collins, Nick (14 June 2010). "Selfridges named world's best department store". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  45. ^ Glancey, Jonathan (1 September 2003). "Top of the blobs". The Guardian. London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  46. ^ "Birmingham Selfridges named must see sight". The Daily Telegraph. London. 26 September 2011. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  47. ^ "Selfridges". TRC Windows. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  48. ^ "Selfridges windows turned into an art gallery". Evening Standard. 5 April 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  49. ^ "Why Paddington Bear Statues Have Taken Over London". Condé Nast. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  50. ^ Murphy, Shaunna (3 November 2014). "Emma Watson Designed A Paddington Bear For Charity And It's Freaking Adorable". MTV. Archived from the original on 7 November 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  51. ^ Sinclair, Mark (2 February 2012). "Wordplay in Selfridges' windows". Creative Review. Archived from the original on 12 October 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  52. ^ "Of Spaciousness and Accommodation". The Times. London. 18 March 1909. p. 4.
  53. ^ "Selfridges / The Recollection of Quality Remains Long After Price is Forgotten". The Times. London. 19 June 1909. p. 4.
  54. ^ Loeb, Walter. "Selfridges: A Shopper's Paradise With A Colorful Founder". Forbes. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  55. ^ a b c Outka, Elizabeth (2005). "Crossing the Great Divides: Selfridges, Modernity, and the Commodified Authentic". Modernism/Modernity. 12 (2): 311–328. doi:10.1353/mod.2005.0063. S2CID 18596478. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  56. ^ "Sir Roger Moore appears in campaign to stop shoppers buying foie gras". The Daily Telegraph. London. 6 November 2009. Archived from the original on 9 November 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  57. ^ "Foie gras protesters go topless". BBC News. bbc.co.uk. 12 February 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  58. ^ Martin Hickman (2 April 2008). "Vegetarian aristocrats and their campaign against the cruelty of Selfridges' foie gras". The Independent. London: independent.co.uk. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  59. ^ "Selfridges Drops Foie Gras From Shelves–Geese Dance Everywhere". Vegetarian Star. 16 November 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  60. ^ "Store apologises over 'sick' McQueen window display". Express.co.uk. 14 July 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  61. ^ Booth, Robert (17 September 2013). "Selfridges assistant suspended for refusing to serve EDL leader's friend". The Guardian. theGuardian.com. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  62. ^ "No action after EDL leader's friend refused Selfridges service". BBC News. bbc.co.uk/news. 18 September 2013. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  63. ^ "Selfridges installs 'inhumane' anti-homeless spikes outside Manchester store". The Independent. London. 16 February 2015.
  64. ^ Hale, Mike (28 March 2013). "Fogging Up the Windows of a Big Store". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  65. ^ a b "Mr. Selfridge". IMDb. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  66. ^ "Where is Wonder Woman filmed?". Find That Location. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  67. ^ Teen, Vanity (22 September 2021). "Jaden Smith Brings His Ethical World To Selfridges Vanity Teen 虚荣青年 Lifestyle & New Faces Magazine". www.vanityteen.com. Retrieved 24 February 2022.

Further reading

[edit]
  • Honeycombe, Gordon. Selfridges, Seventy-Five Years: The Story of the Store 1909–84. London, 1984. ISBN 0902935275.
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