Selfridge
Founded (1909)
Harry Gordon Selfridge, Sr. was born in Ripon, Wisconsin, United States, on January 11, 1864. In 1879, Selfridge worked for Field Leiter and Company (which later became Marshal Field and Company and finally Macy's) in Chicago, Illinois.
After working for Marshal Field for twenty-five years, Selfridge was appointed a junior partner; he married Rosalie Buckingham (of the prominent Chicago Buckinghams) and amassed a considerable personal fortune. In 1906, Selfridge moved to London, England with his wife and decided to build and invest in a department store. In 1909, Selfridge opened his department store on Oxford Street in London. Selfridges was considered the world's largest department store at the time.
It offered amenities such as a post office, a library, rooms dedicated to foreign visitors, and a department dedicated to selling items for clergymen. Shoppers could at last purchase make-up and perfume easily, and the clothes department sold all manners of items - including those that were very hard to find. Women were encouraged to shop there with the slogan "Why Not Spend the Day at Selfridges?" The store quickly became a national institution.
A born entrepreneur, Selfridge came up with some of the most interesting and crowd-pleasing ideas ever seen. In July, 1901, when Louis Blériot’ crash landed his plane in the English Channel, Selfridge had the plane packed, on a train and on display in the store, by ten a.m. the next day. Almost 50,000 people showed up to see it. This tradition for unique displays and unusual exhibitions continues to this day and is a major reason to visit the store.
Selfridge took the company public in 1921. Selfridges became the first department store in the world to open a department dedicated to a new invention: the television. With the stock market crash of 1929 and the worldwide depression of the 1930s, Selfridges found itself in increasing difficulties. The outbreak of World War II only aggravated the company's troubles. Selfridge was finally forced to sell his company, to Lewis's Investment Trust. Selfridge died in poverty at Putney, in south-west London at the age of ninety years old.
In 1965, Selfridges was acquired by the Sears Group, and in 1998 it de-merged and listed itself on the London Stock Exchange. By then, Selfridges had brought in Vittorio Radice, who had previously turned around the Habitat chain of home furnishings stores. Since joining Selfridges in 1996, Radice pushed through a massive seven-year renovation plan meant to restore the Selfridges building to its previous splendor. In 199, Selfridges opened a new store in Manchester, in the north of England. The Manchester Selfridges quickly outpaced its projections, turning profitable by the end of 1999.
Radice pioneered the "House of Brands" strategy, which separated departments into a collection of in-store boutiques stocking the best designer names such as Prada, Gucci, Calvin Klein and Burberry. The renovation of the Oxford Street store was completed by 2000. In December 2002, Vittorio Radice left Selfridges and joined Marks and Spencer. Peter Williams, finance director, took over as chief executive. In 2003, the chain was acquired by Canadian millionaire Galen Weston. Weston is the owner of Canada’s major supermarket chain, Loblaws. That same year Selfridges opened a third store in the Birmingham Bull Ring district. In 2004, Selfridges was reregistered as a private company known as Selfridges & Co. By 2007, the Company had opened another store in Glasgow. Today Selfridges operates four locations in Great Britain, selling menswear, womenswear, childrenswear, health, beauty, and home goods, leisure and food.
Selfridges was awarded the English Heritage plaque; the plaque is awarded by the historic trust to remember key figures in that country's history. In 2002, Selfridges was awarded the London Tourism Award for Visitors' Favorite London store.
Among the most popular quotations attributed to Harry Gordon Selfridge, Sr. are:
- People will sit up and take notice of you if you will sit up and take notice of what makes them sit up and take notice.
- The boss knows how it is done; the leader shows how.
- The customer is always right.
- "Only (?) Shopping Days until Christmas, “a slogan he promoted while still at Marshal Fields."
